


Changing the River of Time

by Nith (Nitholites), Nitholites



Series: Aki's Misadventures in the Past [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Aki Adopting Uzumaki Kids?, Aki Uzumaki is high-key Overpowered, Aki and Naruto didn't have a good childhood, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Author Is Sleep Deprived, BAMF Hatake Kakashi, BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, Canon-Typical Violence, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Demisexual Hatake Kakashi, Dyslexic Uzumaki Aki, Dyslexic Uzumaki Naruto, F/M, Fluff, Fuuinjutsu Master Uzumaki Aki, Fuuinjutsu Master Uzumaki Naruto, Gay Uchiha Sasuke, Gray-Asexual Hatake Kakashi, Hatake Kakashi Has PTSD, Hatake Kakashi is a Good Teacher, Hatake Kakashi is a Little Shit, Hatake Kakashi is so Done, He's an Uzumaki, He's got So Much Love, Humor, I love Gai ok, I promise it gets better, I promise it's there, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, It definitely gets funnier, M/M, Maybe angst, Multi, Naruto from the future goes by Aki and plays pranks, No Smut, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Nothing explicit, Panic Attacks, Pansexual Uzumaki Naruto, Smart Maito Gai, Smart Uzumaki Naruto, Someone Give Naruto a Cuddle, Starts sad, Tags May Change, The Author Regrets Nothing, The Springtime of Youth, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Uzumaki Aki Copes with Prank Wars, Uzumaki Aki has PTSD, Uzumaki Aki is a Little Shit, Uzumaki Naruto has ADHD, YOOOUUUUTTTHHHHH, give these people a family, haven't decided yet, he's really freakin observant, in this house we give sakura character development, just wait till chapter 4 or 5, more likely than you think, no beta we die like my will to live, no beta we die like shinobi, that needs to be a tag, you can fight me on this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:00:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 45,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27948719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nitholites/pseuds/Nith, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nitholites/pseuds/Nitholites
Summary: Naruto has seen it all. War, death, loss, pain. He's been through more than enough, but Kurama won't let his kit end like this.So, back to the past he goes.
Relationships: Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Hatake Kakashi, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Rookie Nine, Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura & Hyuuga Hinata, Haruno Sakura & Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura/Being a Badass Medic, Hatake Kakashi & Kakashi's Ninken, Hatake Kakashi & Maito Gai | Might Guy, Hatake Kakashi/Uzumaki Aki, Hatake Kakashi/Uzumaki Naruto, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Past Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto, Past Nara Shikamaru/Uzumaki Naruto, Sarutobi Asuma/Yuuhi Kurenai, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Series: Aki's Misadventures in the Past [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2066310
Comments: 78
Kudos: 590





	1. The End...?

The war was horrible. Countless lives, lost. Memories, shattered. Sanity, crushed. Naruto knew he was running out of steam. He knew he was tired- so... _s_ _o_ _tired._ But he also knew the war was coming to a close. By victory or death, he didn't care anymore- he just wanted everything to end.

And end, it did. With the man driven mad with power dead at Naruto's feet, without bringing the blond the closure he needed. It didn't bring his friends back, didn't bring the sun out from behind the ash and dust. So, Naruto wandered. 

He traveled the barren wasteland, searching for any hints of life. Animals, plants- he didn't let himself hope for people. But no matter where he went, all that greeted him was the wasteland his war- _it stopped being everyone else's when they died-_ with Madara created. No plants grew from Zetsu's toxic chakra, and all the water had long since been evaporated thanks to Naruto. Accidentally, of course, but it still happened. 

He survived on the seal he created on his hand, which took water molecules from his sweat and the little that remained in the air, filtered it, then sent the water straight into his system. 

... It didn't remove the ash in his mouth or the barrenness of his throat.

Finally, after two weeks of wandering, Naruto stopped. He immediately plopped onto the ground, not caring about how dirty he was. He was covered in grime and dried blood and ash, anyway. What was a bit more dirt going to do? He sat up, sighing and rubbing his face. 

_Don't do this. Sakura would yell at you._

With that thought in mind, Naruto straightened his back and slapped his cheeks. He needed to get it together. Especially if he was going to get through his plan.

He allowed his thoughts to wander while he meditated. But that turned out to be a mistake, as his mind immediately showed images of the war.

He was helpless to the flashback.

 _The usually bright blond had an... air around him. One that promised tears and bad news. He had a horrible feeling that another of his family was going to die_ _, and as a_ _war-worn_ _shinobi, he knew not to ignore his instincts. His feelings were the only reason he was alive at that moment, after all; surviving first the angry villagers of his youth, then the trials he faced as a shinobi._

 _Choji_ _,_ _Ino_ _, Sai,_ _Kiba_ _,_ _Shino_ _, Hinata, Gaara,_ _Temari_ _,_ _Kankuro_ _,_ _Neji_ _, Lee,_ _Tenten_ _, Kakashi, Tsunade,_ _Kurenai_ _, Gai-sensei,_ _Anko_ _,_ _Shizune_ _..._ _They_ _and many others_ _already_ _perished thanks to this pointless war._

 _The_ _only_ _bright side was that all the_ _nations_ _bound together to_ _fight_ _Madara and Obito._

 _..._ _It_ _wasn't_ _worth the sacrifice and suffering_ _it caused._

 _The Seventh Hokage rushed through the_ _battlefield,_ _his instincts_ **_screaming_ ** _for him to hurry. Shikamaru, his head strategist, was on a recon mission. The last Nara_ _wasn't_ _in a good place mentally after the deaths of the rest of his teammates and friends. If the mission went well, the Allied Shinobi Forces would learn where_ _Madara's_ _home base was and how to destroy it._

_**If** it went well._

_Naruto's_ _feeling only got_ _worse_. _He sprinted as fast as he could to the squad's position, careful not to waste any chakra or lead the enemy forces straight to him._

 _He hoped he_ _wasn't_ _too late..._

 _When he arrived, he pushed his emotions to the darkest corner of his mind. The entire squad was dead, including his head_ _strategist and ex-boyfriend._ _He vowed, neither for the first nor last time, to make things right._

_Then, he doubled efforts on his seal._

Naruto blinked. He tuned into his sensing- a habit from the war- even though there wasn't anyone or anything left alive.

He barely remembered where Hokage Monument was supposed to be, the mountain being the first Madara- or, rather, Obito- destroyed as a political statement, announcement of war, and attempt to crush all sense of comradery. A way to say, " _Your heroes can't save you now. No one can."_

He had been right, in a sense.

Naruto knew he had enough chakra, now. He and Kurama spent the past few days saving energy for their seal. A- _hopefully_ \- time-traveling seal.

With his blood, he quickly and efficiently drew out the large, complicated seal on the ground. As he did so, he charged his blood with chakra- both his and Kurama's. He wanted his tenant to go _with_ him, after all. ( _He knew he'd never make it alone, between the panic attacks and flashbacks. His sensei had had enough of those at Obito's face for Naruto to know that fact.)_ Hours later, he finished the seal.

 _'Kurama..._ _it's_ _ready.'_

 **_"Are_ ** _ **you** _ **_?"_ **

_'It_ _doesn't_ _matter if_ _I'm_ _ready or not. We HAVE to do this.'_

 _**"Be careful, Kit. Have** _ **_you_ ** **_packed everything? Double checked the plan? Double checked the seal? We_ ** _ **can't** _ __ **_have any mistakes."_ **

_'I know, you grumpy old fox. Everything is as good as_ _it's_ _gonna get.'_

 **_"Then_ ** **_let's_ ** _**go stop a maniac and a weed."** _

Naruto nodded to himself and poured every bit of his and Kurama's remaining chakra into the seal. It glowed purple, and soon there wasn't any trace of the 20-year-old Hokage ever existing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I never thought I'd post this- let alone on AO3- but here we are! Now I know it starts slow and short. But if you stick with it, by chapter three or four, the true story starts.  
> But thank you for giving this a try! I'll update this every week starting now until I've run out of pre-written chapters, but please be patient if it starts taking a while as college work has top priority.  
> Thank you so much for taking a look at this, and I hope you stick with it!


	2. What. The. F***.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh look at that, a description of soon-to-be-Aki and a bit of a flashback

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .... I know I said every week, but I think imma just post a few chapters today and tomorrow so we can actually get this ball rolling, then go to every week. So stay posted for chapter three and four, i guess

Naruto didn't feel pain or exhaustion. He felt as though he just woke up from a nap- which he practically _did._ When he looked around, he saw that he was near numerous hills and mountains. He could smell salt on the breeze and felt some kind of... _power_ thrumming in the very ground. Something too old to be someone's chakra, but too powerful to be natural.

_'No... can it be...?'_

He ran towards where he heard the ocean and soon, a ruined village came into view.

Uzushiogakure. The Village Hidden in the Whirlpools. His clan's _home_. _His_ home.

He walked through the rubble for a long while, just relishing the feeling of _home_ and _safety._

Eventually, he came across a huge building somewhat... _less_ destroyed than the others. Following Kurama's instructions, he went in and smeared a few seals with his blood. He felt a barrier fall and heard something in the ground open in response.

Naruto chuckled at that. Of _course_ his clan had some kind of defense for their secrets. 

Following the sounds revealed a vault. One with all of the Uzumaki's secrets and the same he found in his time, about halfway through the war. He had learned sealing from his elder Uzumaki and what they left behind, quickly becoming a master in his own right. Mostly thanks to his blood, but also because of the urgency he scoured the vault with back then. He had a field day just looking at everything again, taking his time to really _learn_ what was offered. 

He stored a few scrolls away- scrolls he knew some of his precious people would love to see one day. Plus a few he didn't feel comfortable leaving, as they were too important.

He had quite a bit of work to do, it seemed.

At the river that nearly split the village in half, he got a good look at himself for the first time.

He now had Uzumaki red hair, sharper features, and violet eyes. His signature whiskers weren't in sight, leaving behind an unmarked face. He sighed and summoned Kurama out from the mindscape.

Years ago, he and the fox figured out how to give Kurama a body- either as a shadow clone or a small, red fox, but at least he got to enjoy the outside world now. 

"Why am I like this? My chakra feels all... _weird._ "

"Your Uzumaki genes seem to have changed your hair and eyes," the fox easily stated, humming. "It seems your chakra has also changed to be more Uzumaki and less Namikaze. It shouldn't affect your skills, but maybe test that theory out."

After testing out that, _yes he still has his power,_ they re-evaluated the situation. For a few days, they simply planned, scavenged, and prepared. Ultimately, they decided to make Naruto an Uzumaki survivor, as what else would he be?

The two of them searched the village until they found an old Uzu headband and relatively intact Uzu clothes that fit him. He found a dark blue kimono top with light blue accents with the Uzu crest between the shoulder blades, a couple of dark blue dangly earrings with the Uzu spiral in them, a choker matching them, and a pair of shinobi sandals. He wore those with his black mesh undershirt and ANBU pants. He didn't have trouble with the earrings because his generation's Ino-Shika-Cho trio had included him in some of their traditions, including the matching earrings. Actually, most clans had included all the other survivors in some of their traditions as a way to build morale and comradery.

Even clans from other villages, to Naruto's delight. With that, it was like everyone was his family. Which only made their deaths that much more painful.

Even Naruto shared a few traditions he learned from the ruins of Uzushio. The Uzumaki, with their fierce loyalty and sealing capabilities, shared tattoos and seals amongst the people closest to them. And after learning that, Naruto and his precious people partook in it as soon as they had the time and energy. His clones had made the works of art, hands steady thanks to sealing practice, not to mention he was always decent in art- Sai's help only making him better.

He had red sakura petals coming from a branch on his left hip, reminiscent of the pinkette he called a sister. A lightning dragon fashioned after Sasuke's Kirin for the Uchiha he called a brother snarled at the opponents who snuck up on him through his shirt, wrapping protectively around his waist. A leather-bound book with swirling letters spelling out ' _The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi_ ' lay across his heart and the scars over it, reminding Naruto of both the book that gave him hope and the man who became family. The kanji script for 'medic' peaked out from his collar atop a tree trunk, the top lines barely seen on his neck and in memory of his grandmother. A paintbrush with ink as black as Sai's hair dripped onto his left bicep. A free bird soaring high and carrying a lilly for Neji and Hinata on his right hip bone, while Gaara got a small panda on his right bicep. The last two were on his back- the Hatake clan symbol between his shoulder blades for his sensei and the Uzumaki spiral right above that, on the bend of his neck. Both acted as seals, too. The Hatake clan symbol acting as a way for Naruto to easily sense any other Hatake in the world should he activate it, the same for the Uzumaki spiral. Plus a way to give any other members of the clans some of his chakra in a pinch.

He then started the long trek to Konoha. Kurama, that lazy fox, retreated to their mindscape for a nap. Though, to be fair, the fox deserved it with how much chakra he used both keeping Naruto alive for so long without food and in battle.

After a week or so of teleporting, sprinting, and flickering towards the village, he saw the gates. He easily slipped past the guards all around thanks to his chakra-suppression seals and with his honed stealth skills. (He painted the most important village property in broad daylight when he was _12,_ constantly watched by ANBU, and wearing a _neon orange jumpsuit_. He's had years to get even better.)

Though, being near so many people awakened something in Naruto. It made him... uneasy, almost. So he needed a break. 

Once sitting on his father's head, Naruto internally whined. _'Two seconds near other people, and I'm overwhelmed. How lamer could I get?'_

 _'It takes time to readjust,'_ a voice that sounded like Sakura chimed. It brought a memory to the forefront of Naruto's mind- with Team Seven surrounding a fire late at night on a rare off day- a rarer day where all of them had a break. _"Have you ever thought about what happens after the war," Naruto had asked after a particularly hard day._

_"Of course. There's always the after you have to survive," his teacher sagely stated, looking somewhat amused at Naruto's question. "And if there isn't, it isn't our problem anymore."_

_"Sensei," the three others chimed, chiding the man. He chuckled but didn't move. He must have been more tired than he let on._

_"Cleaning up after the war's gonna be a nightmare," Sakura stated, sighing. "Buildings can be rebuilt with enough supplies and manpower, yeah, but what about the trauma?"_

_When she got curious looks, Sakura groaned in that way she had. It usually meant she was somehow still surprised at the stupidity or ignorance of her teammates. "You can't_ **_seriously_ ** _expect to transition from war to peacetime as easily as a snap."_

_She got blank and sheepish looks, and that caused a louder, more annoyed groan. "Am I the only one who cares about mental health here?!"_

_"At the moment," Sasuke had stated, deadpan. Sasuke was back- for the moment if nothing else. He wouldn't talk about what happened when he was MIA, but that was okay. Sasuke was back, and he wasn't trying to kill anyone but Madara. Which was a win in Naruto's book._

_Sakura spent the rest of the night ranting about the effects of mental health, and how important it was and what she'd do when (never if with her. When) she created the first shinobi mental health hospital._

And with that memory, his eyes started watering, a smug _"Told you so"_ going through his head in Sakura's smug, tired voice. She really had told him so, but he couldn't remember most of what she brought up now.

He took in a deep breath before composing himself and flickering back into the village proper. After a few minutes of just _getting used to humans again,_ he flickered straight into the Hokage's office.

Naruto had his hands up and looked relatively calm considering the many ANBU at his throat. He gazed around the room slowly and noted the Third Hokage gaping at him from his desk. "Hey, old man. How's it hangin'?"

The Hokage recovered quickly and sat back down. "Who are you. What do you want," he demanded in his 'Kage' voice, the one every Kage had.

Naruto shrugged. "That's a triple 'S'-class secret. I'd rather not have an... _audience_... for my story."

At the old man's hesitation, the Uzumaki sighed. "If I _wanted_ to harm you, I would've done it already."

Hiruzen sighed, feeling a migraine coming on. Silently, he waved the ANBU away. "Speak."

Naruto grinned, slipping his hands into his pockets. "It's been a while, Jiji. At least when I'm from." He sighed when the old man just looked confused. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. I'm the 9 Tail's jinchuriki and 7th Hokage of the Leaf. I've been in a war for the past... 5 years?" The red-head furrowed his brow before nodding. "Yeah, 5 years. I'm gonna turn 21 next October. Speaking of, how old is little me?"

After composing himself, the Third answered. "A bold trick," he stated, making his disbelief obvious. Naruto only sighed, just wanting to sleep for a week. Then, he had an idea. A seal he created when words were too risky and handsigns were compromised. When they needed to verify identities even when Naruto himself wasn't there.

"I can prove it," Naruto stated, letting the determination many thought he lost long ago light his eyes. It was fun compared to in his youth, but _there._ "That is, if you're willing to take a chance." A sly smirk found its way to Naruto's face, giving his features an air of mischief.

After a moment of thought, Hiruzen nodded, assured in his own strength.

Naruto rolled up his sleeve- ignoring the curious looks at the seals and tattoos obvious- and summoned a jar of ink and a brush from a storage seal. He quickly drew the needed seal along his left arm. While he drew, Hiruzen spoke. "What are you doing?"

"Writing the seal. It'll let you into my mindscape for a quick tour of some of my memories," Naruto explained, completing the seal and storing the tools once more. "All you have to do is take my hand."  
  
Needless to say, Hiruzen did just that, and ended up face-to-face with the 9 tailed fox, who laughed at him. He jumped when a different voice spoke from beside him, whirling around to see-

_Minato._

"That's one way to introduce yourself," Minato- _no,_ Hiruzen realized. This man wasn't the Yellow Flash. He had whiskers on his cheeks, eyes a slightly darker mix of the sea and the sky, and a leaner build. The fourth Hokage had been broader in every sense of the word, yet this man held the room in the exact same way. 

It wasn't until all the voices Hiruzen tuned out stopped that he realized he had been staring.

"... _Naruto_?"

The man had a gentle smile, no trace of the prankster look Hiruzen had grown to know so well. "It's been a long time, Jiji."

Hiruzen took a good look around. The sound of waves crashing along a shore matched with the beach he could see ahead, a sunset making the ocean water sparkle. A lush forest stood tall behind them, the sounds of life strong and everywhere. But there were fallen trees, trenches in the sand, storm clouds on the horizon, and areas of sand that stood strangely, almost looking like sculptures of some kind. _That looks like... when lightning strikes sand. What does that mean for his mental state?_

Hiruzen didn't get a chance to ask, as Naruto grabbed his attention. "Should we start? We don't want to be here too long- your ANBU will start to worry."

"Ah, right. Let's get started, then."

After that, they looked at a few memories- mostly childhood, as Naruto didn't want to look at the more recent ones. The only explanation given was the only one Hiruzen needed: _War._

Soon enough, the memories stopped, and both left the mindscape. Not much time had passed thanks in part to the seal- it took some of the Yamanaka's technique, but sped it up and molded the chakra for you. An astounding seal, but Naruto refused to explain why or how he created it.

Hiruzen didn't push after seeing the cracks and damage within Naruto's mindscape.

And so, they talked about the near future and keeping this secret close. They decided to have Naruto pose as an Uzumaki refugee named Aki Uzumaki. Aki's mother was a distant cousin to Kushina, but they've never met. His mother taught Aki all about Uzushiogakure and their secrets, explaining his abilities better. When Aki's mother passed, the only living relative he knew of, he thought about the relationship between Uzu and Konoha and sought refuge in the village in exchange for becoming a shinobi.

They were proud of his cover, and by the end of the day, all the paperwork was filled and arrangements made. Aki would go to his new home and take a ranking test. If he got together three or more other Uzumaki, he'd be viewed as clan head and have a seat on the Council. If he so chose, of course. He didn't want to be on the Council, but bringing the Uzumaki clan beck together? 

That was a dream come true.

Aki knew exactly who to get.

First, Naruto. Obviously.

Second, Karin. The poor girl could use a friend.

Third, a fearsome girl he met on the front lines named Yuki. She had red hair, too, and would be in between Konoha and Suna at that point in time. The girl would be around Konohamaru's age and with her mother, who'd die by the end of that year. She had chakra chains and would make an _excellent_ addition to their little clan.

He got the Third's permission to get her and her mother as soon as possible.

After discussing a few other things and giving the Third a heads up on the most important, soon events, Aki grinned and leaped through the window, sending a wink and two-fingered salute to the irritated ANBU on guard duty. 

He felt lighter leaving that office than he had in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2!! Yay it took so long to edit this because i hated it please send help


	3. Meeting Yourself, Becoming a Shinobi, and Another Uzumaki Aquired!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aki meets a very familiar face, then adopts a child. As you do.

When Aki asked to be by his younger counterpart, the Third had simply smiled and silently gave him the keys.

And so, about an hour after their chat, Aki found himself face-to-face with his younger self. "I didn't know anyone lived there," said younger-self stated skeptically. Not that Aki blamed him or anything- nothing good usually came from a new neighbor.

He wasn't going to go there at the moment.

The red-head chuckled. "I just moved in. Guess I'm your new neighbor, huh?"

"...yeah. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, y'know! I'm gonna be Hokage someday!"

"Uzumaki," Aki questioned with honed faked surprise.

"Got a problem with it?"

He quickly shook his head. "No! It's just... I didn't think I had any family left. My name is Aki Uzumaki."

Naruto's eyes _sparkled._ "Wait, are we family?!?"

Aki nodded. "I guess we are. I'm going to revive the clan within Konoha, but I need three other members. Wanna join?" Aki wasn't worried about breaking laws within Konoha- especially regarding the little Naruto. Because after seeing the haunted look in Aki's eyes when friends were mentioned, Hiruzen had given him permission to do what he thought needed to save their future.

The blond hopped in place happily. "We have a _clan?!_ You bet! Where are we gonna find the others? _Are_ there others? Where have you been? What are you to me, a cousin? Do you know-"

"Woah, slow down, kit! Breathe." Aki chuckled at the excitement, remembering how he was the exact same way as a kid. "How bout you come in for dinner and we get acquainted?"

And so, they had ramen. Of _course_. It didn't last long, despite how little Aki ate. Once done, Naruto started his questioning again, only stopping to let Aki answer.

"Where are the rest of us?"

"Scattered," Aki responded sadly. "When Uzushiogakure was attacked, everyone that _could,_ fled. Ever since we Uzumaki have had a target on our backs. When someone gets wind of us, they attack us until we die."

"Why?"

"We were too strong." Aki told the younger about Uzu and how it fell. He told his younger self everything about Uzumakis that he remembered, and anything that wasn't too complicated. Sure he simplified quite a bit down, but he needed to. His younger self was hyperactive with an attention span that was a millimeter long. By the time he finished _that,_ it was definitely bedtime. 

"Will I see you again?"

Aki smiled. "Of course. Tomorrow, I'm taking a ranking test to officially become a shinobi, but I'll make us breakfast before we go. Come by tomorrow morning before you leave, okay? It'll be ready by 7."

"Okay! Good night, Aki-nii!"

He waved as the little ball of sunshine scampered off next door. Once he finished putting everything away, he placed seals everywhere (like the paranoid war veteran he was) and unpacked the little he brought with the storage seals on his skin. He showered, put his hip-long blood-red hair into a braid, and went to bed.

He woke up at 5 despite the nightmares trying to keep him awake all night (like usual) and got ready. There wasn't a need to get dressed, as he hadn't changed over the night. He was still in Battle-Mode, which would have to change soon, but he'd keep his habits for a while longer. Just in case.

Then, he started breakfast. He made sure to have every food group (as both of them had malnutrition at the moment) and just as he finished setting up, a knock sounded at his door. He opened it to find an excited blond boy with a smile to rival the sun.

Aki gave a smile of his own, more subdued than the blond's, and turned around. "Just in time, Naruto. Come on in."

As they ate, Aki turned serious. "As soon as I'm done with the placement exams, I'm going on a mission of sorts." The blond looked at him before motioning him to continue. "I'll be gone for a few days, so before I go, I'm going to put a few seals around your apartment, okay?"

At Naruto's nod, he continued. "I've stocked the fridge and pantry, so just come on over if you need something. I'm giving you the key while I'm gone so you can hang here if need-be. I've already put a bunch of protection seals around, so no one with hurtful intentions can even get close. There's a seal in my room- I'll show you where- that will let me teleport here. To use it, just send some chakra into it, okay?" He waited for another nod, then continued. "I'll teach you how to use these seals and what they do before I leave. If I'm successful, you'll have a wonderful surprise. Okay?"

Naruto nodded again. Once they finished eating, Aki handed the child a bento and started showing him everything he promised. He told the child when and where the exams were going to be and invited his younger self to go watch. By 8:15, they split ways.

Meanwhile, a fox who was once dormant stirred, angry red eyes glaring at the red-head from his jail's eyes. **_Why does this mortal have my chakra...?_**

.

.

.

Everyone who's anyone knew when and where the physical portion of Aki's exams were, the red-head being the target of many a rumour despite only being in the village for about 24 hours. The man had taken written and tactical portions in the morning, so at 4 p.m. in the arena, the stands were filled with shinobi, councilmen, and a few Academy students. One such student was Naruto Uzumaki with a few others. Namely, the clan children and the rest of the future Team 7.

The children didn't believe him about his cousin, either scoffing or ignoring the blond. They were all used to Naruto's pranks and assumed this was one of them. Wrongly, yes, but so went the story of the boy who cried wolf. 

Luckily, Aki predicted this would happen. That, and he wanted to check in on the younger version of himself, as he didn't trust the villagers yet. So, before the match, Aki appeared before the blond child and his classmates. "Yo!"

"Aki-nii! See guys, I _told_ you he's real, y' know!"

The red-head nodded from his place balanced on the rail, doing an amazing job of hiding the ghosts behind his eyes. "Unless I'm a ghost. Actually, that _could_ be the case. I've died a couple of times."

" _What?!?"_

"Yeah. My heart's stopped before," he stated, putting a hand on his chin in thought. "Actually a few times, now that I think about it. But I'm here now!"

The children sweat-dropped at the bright smile on his face and his light tone. _" THAT'S_ _NOT A GOOD THING!!!"_

He shrugged. "It doesn't really matter right now, anyway. Also- how rude of me- my name's Aki Uzumaki. I'm Naruto's cousin and head of the Uzumaki clan, which I'm gonna rebuild as soon as possible. Anyway, I've gotta go. Ja ne!"

With that, he hopped off and into the arena, a smile only his enemies on the battlefield would recognize. The smile of a man who has nothing left to fight for, who would still die fighting anyway because of the ghosts haunting his thoughts.

The test was specifically for his skill in battle, going through taijutsu, ninjutsu, and any specialty jutsu the examinee had to offer. The last part was so the examiners could really get a feel for how the subject fought, and what they were capable of. First up was taijutsu. Against Aki were 5 ANBU, one with a bird mask, one with a cat, dog, weasel, and one with a fish. They surrounded the red-head in a loose circle, with the cat and weasel attempting to hide for a sneak attack.

That didn't work on an Uzumaki jinchuriki.

Aki smiled- not a grin of a fighting dead man, but of a predator who knows he's already won. Before anyone could do anything, he appeared in front of the fish mask- the one directly behind him- and kicked the poor ANBU in the head. Immediately after, the other two rushed him, the weasel and cat remaining in hiding. Probably to try and find a weakness in his skils. He skillfully dodged everything they threw while landing counters of his own, often too fast for anyone in the bleachers to see. But Aki knew the injuries and hits would get reported after the test, so he wasn't too worried. 

The match barely lasted 2 minutes, and that was with the red-head majorly holding back. He internally frowned, testing the ANBU's skills like they were with him. _They're too weak for our future. Unless I can change it, but they still need to get stronger before the war. Just in case, as Obito and Zetsu probably have plans for plans._

Not even breaking a sweat, Aki looked around. A couple more ANBU came down in time for the ninjutsu and projectile part. Without hand-seals, Aki made a couple of shadow clones. The clones used ninjutsu while he threw seals and projectiles. This time barely slow enough for the most experienced jonin to see, as he wanted to show off a _little._ That was the point, after all.

Again, the match was pitifully short. By the end, he got a jonin rank, as expected. He and Hiruzen had a bit of a laugh at the gobsmacked expressions of some of the other shinobi, but he didn't linger long. He flickered to Naruto, said a final 'see ya later', and set off to find Yuki and her mother.

While the young woman in his time had shared much of her past, she wasn't one to dwell on it. She rarely thought back on it, only really going into detail either in her therapy or drunk. She had been confident in Aki's time, having grown into her strengths and worked out how to overcome her weaknesses. She was a terror on the battlefield- and her loss had hit as hard as Team 7's. 

She was also Aki's closest confidant- especially when the war reached it's peak and his friends and family started dropping at an alarming rate. Having her sarcastic nature back would be hard on the older Uzumaki at first, he knew, but he also knew she was a good starting point to get used to seeing dead faces come to life once more. Already, it had taken all his willpower not to freeze at the sight of his old friends- still Academy students- alive and young and _safe._

Aki sighed as he traveled, remembering the bright young woman that reminded him so much of his mother.

_This is gonna be a long process..._

.

.

.

On the second day of the search, Aki found the small hut on the border of sand and forest. He knocked on the door and waited until a small girl with bright red hair, brown eyes, and a chubby face opened the door. "Hello," a timid and soft voice asked. Much softer than the voice he remembered, but he also remembered a particularly drunk night when Yuki shared how shy she was as a kid.

He squatted down to her height and stared into her eyes. Giving a warm smile, he introduced himself. At 'Uzumaki', her eyes widened. "Like me and Mama?"

He nodded his head. "There's another Uzumaki where I'm from. I'm working to rebuild our clan, and I'd love it if you came with me to Konoha."

Yuki opened the door wider and motioned for him to follow. She led him to a living room and sat. "Aki-san... why do you want me in Konoha?"

He smiled, the sort of interview such a ' _Yuki_ _'_ thing to do. She always made sure she knew all of the facts and the other parties before she made a decision. That's why she was such a good ally. "To make a family," Aki simply stated. "The Uzumaki were once a large and powerful clan. I'd like to make it so again. Of course, we will eventually go back to Uzushiogakure, but it needs some TLC. While we are small, we can wait in Konoha until we find more Uzumaki. No one would try anything while we stay there, and we'd get training. Of course, if you want to stay here, I won't stop you. We can also go to Uzu early if need-be."

The child thought for a moment. Then she nodded. "Okay, mister. Let's go."

He smiled and waited while she packed, the process quick as she, even at a young age, always had the necessities ready to go. "Ready?"

"Mhm."

He again squatted down to her height. "I can get us there fast if you want. I have a teleportation seal in the Hokage's office. Do you want to use it or walk?"

"We can use it."

"Then hang on tight for me."

He picked her up and held her close, his other hand gripping her luggage. With a burst of chakra and a red flash, they found themselves in front of the Third Hokage. Aki carefully set the child down and turned to the old man. "Yo."

"Aki. I presume you are miss Yuki Uzumaki?"

She nodded. "Yessir."

"Then welcome to Konoha. All the paperwork is already filled out. Tell me, where is your mother?"

The little girl looked down. "She... she's gone."

"I see... I'm terribly sorry for your loss. Would you accept Aki as your legal guardian, then?"

She thought for a moment but nodded eventually. The old man smiled again and said, "Good. Now that that's settled, the Uzumaki compound was fixed this morning. You can bring Naruto, Yuki, and yourself to live there whenever you're ready, Aki."

"I'll ask Naruto, but I think we'll move in soon. Thank you, Jiji."

With that, the two Uzumaki left.

"Aki-nii! You're back!"

The man barely caught the flying, blond blur that tackled him. He laughed and pat Naru's back. "Yep. And I found a cousin."

Then the blond noticed the visitor. In a second, he was in front of the little girl, thankfully not knocking her over in his excitement. "Hiya! My name's Naruto Uzumaki! I'm gonna be Hokage, y' know!"

"Yuki Uzumaki. I don't know what I wanna do yet."

While the kids got to know each other, Aki started making dinner. The two kids got along swimmingly and before either of them knew it, quite a bit of ramen was in front of them. Aki knew the appetites of the Uzumaki (himself excluded for now) and knew how much they'd need.

The three of them chatted some more while they ate and soon, Aki dropped the bombshell. "So, Naruto, the Uzumaki have a clan compound in the village. It's fixed up and livable, and with Yuki here, Jiji said we could move into it whenever. Is that okay with you?"

"Woah, we have a _compound?_ That's so cool, datteboyo! Let's move in!"

In hindsight, Aki supposed, he should have guessed the answer. But with such bright smiles and joy radiating off of his new family, Aki couldn't find it in himself to care too much about hindsight.

And so the next day, the three Uzumaki moved into the compound. The buildings weren't too big, but what it lacked in room space was more than made up for by the yards. A few huge training grounds, a garden or three, a bit of forest, a pond... really anything. The Uzumaki liked the outdoors and needed space for their seals... and the explosions. _So many explosions._

Hence the land area.

They spent the next few days decorating, clothes shopping, and getting settled in. The three of them finally got an actual wardrobe, to the relief of anyone in Konoha that liked fashion.

Naruto ditched the kill-me-orange jumpsuit for an orange and black jacket with black shinobi pants despite him still being in the Academy. Yuki settled on a dark red with a paler red-accented kimono top (that matched her hair) with black shorts. She decided to enter the Academy, mainly so she could protect herself while she figured out what she wanted to do. And if nothing else, she could use the shinobi based education as a base for her chosen career. 

Aki wore standard jonin gear with his Konoha headband around his forehead and an Uzushio choker on his neck, the spiral holding a storage seal where he kept his Uzushio forehead protector. He had a dangly earring with the Uzumaki spiral in his left ear, an earring fashioned after a whirlpool above that (for Naruto), a clear crystal surrounding a blood-red snowflake above the whirlpool (for Yuki), and a silver earring shaped as the Konoha leaf in his right earlobe. He had other piercings, but no other jewels to use yet.

With that, the Uzumakis settled down and learned to live together. All of them enjoyed gardening, so Aki converted one of the training grounds into a collective garden for the three of them. They grew vegetables, fruits, herbs, poisonous plants, medicinal herbs, flowers, and cacti. Yuki showed a talent for medicinal and poisonous herbs, so Aki suggested for her to consider becoming a medic-nin or poisons specialist.

She chose to be a poisons specialist, making the boys shiver in fear at the gleam in her eye.

Aki started training them as soon as he got the supplies. He taught them the shadow clone jutsu, one-handed signs, and to perform jutsu with no hand-signs. He trained them to use their non-dominant hand just as well as their dominant and why it was an important skill. He didn't teach the Rasengan, recalling how much more it meant when his godfather taught it to him. He taught them the history of Uzushiogakure, seals, the Tailed Beasts... even going so far as saying, " _Every one_ _of_ _them_ _has a name, a will._ _They're_ _intelligent, ancient, wise, and can be a_ _jinchuriki's_ _best friend. Especially when_ _they're_ _treated horribly by others. Today, we will find out if either of you are_ _jinchuriki_ _. Specifically of the 9-tailed-fox. Only an Uzumaki is compatible with the_ _eldest_ _beast,_ _and_ _only you two and your mothers were anywhere near_ _Konoha_ _during its last sighting."_

And so, Naruto met Kurama earlier and Yuki learned not to be afraid. She wasn't jealous of Naruto- the opposite actually. She was glad that she didn't have anyone sealed inside of her, as she imagined that wasn't a very pleasant experience and she would have been ridden with guilt. Aki taught the blond Uzumaki to steps to mastering Kurama's chakra but forbade him from trying when the red-head wasn't around. When Naruto asked why the fox was so mean and angry, Aki asked how Naruto would feel if a baby sealed him inside of it against his will.

He understood and felt a kind of sad understanding when he heard how the previous jinchuriki treated Kurama and vowed to befriend him.

He told them both about Naruto's heritage. As expected, the blond jumped for joy stating how awesome his dad was and how cool he was gonna be. Yuki shrugged and stated that it didn't matter to her. Of course, Aki swore them to secrecy. With a bunch of whining about keeping an awesome fact hidden, Naruto agreed.

And so, final exam day came around for Naruto. A big day for the household, and for the future itself (not that anyone but Aki really understood that).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't even realize this wasn't out, sorry. This was sposed to be chapter three, aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  
> Thank you for reading this far and sticking with it, and I'll hopefully see you next chapter!


	4. Last Day in the Academy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor Yuki just wants her brothers' breakfast, Kurama doesn't know the meaning of 'responsible', and where did Aki get that glue?

_Gaara was among the last of the_ _Kage_ _to_ _die-_ _one of the the firsts being Tsunade. Being one of the last 3 Kage, he was well protected._

_It didn't matter in the end, when someone got into his head and destroyed the person he became. The unknown shinobi trapped him in a loop of his childhood, only brought to his present. He saw everyone he loved turn against him, look at him with fear._

_The only way he knew it wasn't real? The hate in Naruto's eyes. The blond man only had eyes like that for three_ _beings-_ _Madara, Obito, and Zetsu. But he still couldn't escape it, for while he_ _**knew** _ _it wasn't real...._

_It felt like it. He lashed out in his sorrow, accidentally harming anything that came close._

_But, once again, he was subdued by the sunshine blond, brought back just in time for Zetsu to run him through, dealing a fatal blow while Naruto could only watch._

_Gaara's_ _last words, after finally getting the blond to focus on him instead of immediately going after the weed?_

_**"Don't lose yourself, my friend. If you lose yourself, they win."** _

_Naruto didn't know how true those words turned out to be, for while he won the war... he lost the final straw in that last battle._

_._

_._

_._

.

On Exam Day, Aki woke up early and made a nice breakfast. Eggs, toast, shaped fruit, yogurt... All laid out on the table. He went and woke the two children up.

Yuki woke easily, used to waking up at a moment's notice. Naruto... _didn't_. Aki would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy Naruto's look of utter _betrayal_ when the red-head used a weak Water Dragon Jutsu on him. Yuki simply ignored the cackling red-head and the blond chasing him spewing insults, curses, and threats left and right, only continuing to eat her breakfast. She didn't get a chance to snag her brothers', though. _Damn ninja protecting their food,_ she thought, frowning.

Naruto calmed down at the sight of food and soon left for the Academy. With Aki's lessons, he breezed through the written and physical portions. The older ninja somehow made everything make sense to the hyperactive blond, explaining things in an easily understandable way and making connections with things he saw in the world.

Then came the last part. "Okay Naruto, create at least three clones and you pass."

Before beginning, Naruto gave a questioning look to Iruka. "Can I use a different clone technique?"

Iruka, mildly surprised, nodded. "There aren't any rules against it, so sure. Why do you ask?"

"I will never be able to do the standard clone technique," he started, surprising the teachers. Naruto was many things- a prankster, the dead-last, an Uzumaki- but he wasn't one to give up or say 'never'. But before they could interrupt, he continued. " I have too much chakra, y'know. Aki-nii says it's like trying to use a baby spoon to eat a large bowl of ramen at once- not possible. So he showed me a different jutsu."

Iruka nodded and gestured for the blond to continue. Without using hand-signs, the child created 5 shadow clones.

To say the teachers were surprised is an understatement. They. Were. _Shocked._ Usually, it takes a couple of hand-signs at _least_ to focus that much chakra. For the dead-last to have displayed so much talent at the jutsu... Mizuki was silently fuming, having his plan destroyed. Iruka beamed at the child and happily handed over a forehead protector. "Congratulations, Naruto Uzumaki. You are now a genin of Konoha."

Naruto beamed in response and left with a, _'I did it,_ _datteboyo_ _!'_. Once he walked out, he ignored the scoring whispers and hateful stares around him and focused on a familiar face in the crowd.

"Aki-nii, you came!"

Aki smiled and ruffled the young kid's hair. "Of course I did. I wouldn't miss your graduation for anything less than the end of the _world_."

And so, they walked to Ichiraku's for celebratory ramen, Yuki hanging out at a friend's house once again. She usually preferred staying at a friend's, going from a calm house in the middle of the woods to such a rambunctious and loud family was a lot at times. The other two Uzumaki understood, and supported her progress. "Teuchi! An extra-large house special and a miso!"

The man turned to his favorite customers with a smile. "Oho? What's the occasion?"

Aki was about to answer when Naruto cut in. "I passed! I'm a shinobi now!"

After he finished his ramen, Aki excused himself. "I have a... rat to take care of. I'll be back soon, so wait for me here, alright Naruto?"

"Mhm! Hurry back."

"Will do." With a nod to Teuchi and a smile at Naruto, Aki flickered to where he sensed Mizuki. The chunin was rushing to his meeting with Orochimaru (scroll in hand), so Aki tripped him with a bit of wind. The 7th Hokage held the traitor up and still with wind chakra and appeared right in front of him. "Well, what do we have here? Mizuki-sensei, right?"

The caught man struggled harshly. "Who the fuck are _you_ _?"_

Aki smiled. "Aki Uzumaki. Naruto's guardian and teacher."

"You're that _demon's_ family?"

Aki frowned. "No, Naruto isn't the demon." He smiled cruelly, remembering all of his rage at those who killed his world in front of him, and allowed Kurama's voice to mix with his own and for a little bit of their intertwined chakra to change his normally violet eyes to a glowing blood-red, pupils turning to cruel slits. His teeth sharpened, his features grew cruel and his voice low as he _growled,_ " ** _I_** **am."**

Mizuki's scream led his pursuers, an ANBU squad, right to them. They were mildly surprised to find a relaxed red-head standing beside a sobbing Mizuki. The man walked up to them with a smile and a wave. "Hi. Tell the Hokage to increase security around important things for me."

With that, Aki flashed back to Ichiraku's, intent to make this day the best in his younger self's life.

Later that night, Hiruzen sighed, wondering how on _Earth_ Aki managed to terrify a seasoned shinobi like Mizuki- traitor or not- to the point of muteness and constant tremors.

_Better not get on his bad side... I'd better write a note for the next Hokage... Or a few..._

.

.

.

 _Tsunade was the third of the Kage to go, about a year before Gaara. The_ **_one_** _day she wasn't in the medic tents or in the strategy room with the other Kage, she was ambushed._

_She didn't go down easily._

_Thousands of Zetsu clones attacked all at once, never-ending._

_She lasted three days before she knew she was too worn to win. All that time using her full chakra to heal took its toll, coupled with sleepless nights focusing on what she lost. She was too far from any camps to request help without endangering anyone, so she summoned_ _Katsuyu_ _in a mini form and left messages to her godson, apprentice, and their best friend when she got a second to breathe._

_That night,_ _Katsuyu_ _came to their camp, tears raining from her eyes. Everyone knew what that meant, and some took the loss harder than others. But those that knew her knew it wouldn't be long after_ _Shizune_ _and_ _Jiraiya_ _died that she'd_ _lose-_ _either in battle or to herself._

_The three on Team 7 listened to her last words alone in their tent, comforting each other to the best of their abilities._

_"Sakura, my beautiful and wonderful student... You've done well. You rival me in strength, medical talent, and your wonderful brain. I know you'll take the mantle as Head Medic wonderfully."_

_"Sasuke... Hurt my cherry blossom or sunshine, and I'll come from the grave to kill you. Don't think I don't see the look they have when they look at you, and you, them. Protect them... with your life, if you must."_

_"Naruto... I never told you this, but..._ **_you gave me hope. You shine when others wither, and I know you'll weather the storm. Live. Don't let me break you_ ** **_down-_ ** **_don't let anyone. You're stronger than you know, don't forget."_ **

.

.

.

.

The next morning, Aki got called to the Hokage's office just like every other potential jonin-sensei. He was there in case one of the other jonin were simply _that_ against teaching or to double up on a team. Hiruzen wanted to help the time-traveler in his quest as much as possible, so he allowed the red-head to choose what action to take, to the annoyance of the civilian Council. They watched the students through the glass ball thing in the office and commented on how the kids interacted with each other.

Aki was the only one to openly laugh at the Kiss Scene™ and the following... events. In the end, he and Kakashi were on the same squad with Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. After the meeting, Aki approached Kakashi. "Hi. I'm Aki Uzumaki. When do you want to pick up the kids?"

Kakashi simply whipped out his book while responding, "5 hours. We'll meet on the roof."

Instead of reacting to the inappropriate reading material, Aki nodded with a thoughtful look on his face. "Y'know... they'll set up at _least_ one prank if you're that late."

"If _I'm_ that late?" A lone, gray eye shifted towards Aki, guarded yet questioning.

The red-headed man nodded. "I'm actually already there."

And then he poofed. Kakashi blinked at the now-empty space while a single thought ran through his brain. _'I_ _didn't_ _know that was a clone... I could sense and smell it... this guy's good.'_

Meanwhile, the real Aki watched the entire day from the classroom ceiling. He was there from the start and let a shadow clone take his place after breakfast. Somehow, no one noticed him. To be fair, not many people looked up in the day unless they were lost in thought. ' _Is it my chakra_ _suppressing_ _seals...?'_

He shrugged from his place upside down and continued watching the kids. When 2 hours rolled around, he laid back so he was flat against the ceiling.

...He had immense fun by slowly dripping light, scentless, room-temperature glue onto Sasuke's back. The glue didn't weigh anything and didn't soak the boy's shirt, so the brooding Uchiha didn't notice it. And he didn't do it to Naruto because they didn't need another Great Prank War so soon after the previous.

_This is gonna be good. I wonder how Kakashi and Sakura will react? Sakura might faint and Kakashi..._ **_my_ ** _Kakashi would just sigh and move on. What do_ _you_ _think, Kurama?_

**_I think_ ** _**you're** _ **_still an idiot._ **

_Hey!_

**_But_ ** _**you're** _ _**a fun idiot.** _ **_This'll_ ** **_be good._ **

As Aki mentally snickered, he watched Naruto set up the erasure prank.

Except... The kid didn't _just_ use the eraser. Thanks to Aki's teachings and his Uzumaki blood, Naruto was quite the sealing prodigy. The blond already mastered the basics of using, reading, and writing seals and was working on making his own and testing them. Just last week, he made a camouflage seal that painted the entire house hot pink.

Aki was _so_ proud. He reviewed his levels of pride and saw that, yes, this accomplishment was the proudest he'd ever been about _anything._

"What are you doing _now,_ idiot?"

With a sly grin, the blond answered without looking up. "Painting a masterpiece."

Sakura feigned surprise. "Two large words in one sentence! Don't think too hard, you'll melt your brain."

Sasuke, meanwhile, was curious. _'What is the_ _dobe_ _doing?'_

Naruto stuck the then-finished seal onto the floor in front of the door. The seal glowed blue, then vanished. To top it off, he set up the eraser prank.

When Kakashi opened the door, the eraser fell on his head. The man took a step forward to tell his first impressions of them when...

_Poof._

A cloud of silver glitter erupted from the floor up into the jonin's nose, eyes, and hair through the mask. Aki noticed the surprise in the Hatake's posture and nearly fell off the ceiling from trying to hold his laughs in. Kurama wasn't making it any easier with his loud, booming laughter echoing in their mindscape.

"My first impressions of you... how do I put this?" Kakashi said in a surprisingly calm voice while bringing his hand to his chin in mock thought. "I hate you. Meet me on the roof. _Now._ "

Aki flickered to the roof and waved at Kakashi. "Told ya so, y'know."

At Kakashi's deadpan stare, the jinchuriki let his laughter out and hopped onto the roof awning. Once he calmed down, Kakashi spoke. "Where were you? You said you were here but..."

"You didn't notice?"

Kakashi stared at the other man. "You're one of the- if not _the-_ best trackers in the _world_ and you didn't notice me laying on the ceiling? I've been there since before class!"

It was at that moment that a squeal sounded throughout the land and the red-head remembered the glue. "Oh!" He created a shadow clone that then teleported. At Kakashi's raised eyebrow, the man explained. "I got bored so I dripped glue onto Uchiha's back."

"...glue?"

As the clone's memories filtered into his head, Aki burst out laughing again. "It stuck his _pants to the seat!_ I thought it'd stick to his _shirt_ , but he's always leaning forwards!"

He'll never forget Sasuke's red face, Naruto's laughter, and poor Sakura on the floor with a nosebleed. _She_ _ **did**_ _faint!_

...Safe to say, it took a solid extra 15 minutes for all the genin to make it on the roof. Sasuke was _fuming_ and blaming Naruto for the... _incident.._. but couldn't find any proof. Kakashi just sighed and continued on. "Let's just get this over with. We'll start with introductions."

"Introductions?"

Aki let their introductions go just like they did last time, only during Kakashi's introduction, he snuck behind the genin and sat cross-legged behind Naruto. When Sasuke finished, he started. "My turn."

The children whirled around at the voice. "Aki-nii! When'd ya get here?"

Aki grinned. "Before you did. I was on the ceiling for the entire day, then beat you guys here."

"The ceiling?"

He nodded at the pinkette. "I got bored, though, and _meant_ to stick his-" Aki pointed at Sasuke. "-shirt to the back of the bench, but... That reminds me! I shoulda pranked you, too," Aki said, turning to his younger self.

A chill crept down Aki's spine. _**"It. Was. You?"**_

The Uchiha was kinda... _cute_ when he tried to be scary and intimidating. "Yep," Aki chirped, a bright grin on his face. "And there's time for more shenanigans!"

 _'NO SHAME,'_ three people thought simultaneously. Sasuke glared at the newcomer but was cut off from saying anything.

"My name, as you may or may not know, is Aki Uzumaki. I'm your other jonin sensei."

"Our... _other_ sensei? Why do we need two?"

"Dunno, don't care. I'm here to help Kashi whip you into shape and keep you alive."

"... ' _Kashi'_? Am I a joke to you?"

"Anyway, I like ramen, sealing, my family, gardening, pranking, and my friends. I don't like...dead people that don't _stay_ dead, those that can't differentiate between a kunai and the scroll it's sealed in, _weeds,_ Madara, bullies, self-centered brats that don't know the power of friendship, fox-haters, aliens... and a bunch of other stuff. My hobbies are training, pranking, tending our garden, sealing, and weed-killing. Oh, and befriending literally every enemy I've ever faced that lived. My dreams for the future..."

Aki frowned as he thought about it. "I don't have _dreams,_ I have _plans._ But I won't share any of them."

"Why not, Aki-nii," Naruto whined.

The strange man smiled and ruffled the blond's hair. "Too many of them. I'll tell you when you're older." _If I live._

Kakashi clapped, said some stuff, and left, taking Aki with him. Kashi dragged Aki to the Memorial Stone and started explaining what they'd do the following day.

Aki was _all for_ making the cute children suffer. Especially Naruto.

He had to get back at the blond for the house thing, after all. It was simply the responsible thing to do.

... He decided to ignore Kurama's comments on it. The fox simply didn't know the meaning of 'responsible' in Aki's humble opinion.


	5. Those Diggity Dang Bells

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Bell Test!! And Kashi gets his revenge :3

_Sakura was among the last alive. Her death impacted him and Sasuke more than any before it..._

_But she was the first to go from Team 7._

_It was about 3 years into the war, the year proving itself the worst in the entire war by the sheer number of deaths, injured, and sick. Their food was starting to run out thanks to the infertile land, lack of sunlight, and water. Their enemies were getting smarter, and they were at a huge information disadvantage._

_Sakura was Head Medic, teaching everyone she could about medicinal everything. Even things she knew wouldn't happen again. Thanks to her, everyone knew what to do in a pinch and saved many lives several times over._

_She was the last officially trained medic, so she had to make her knowledge count._

_When she had time, she wrote everything she could about everything she remembered medically, which was basically everything with her amazing memory. She drew diagrams, explained processes, and explained what to do in every situation she could think of._

_She barely finished when she fell._

_She was in battle, fighting to reach an injured Sasuke with everything she had and more._

_She reached him just as she was struck from behind fatally._

_And she knew that. Working quickly, she healed a little of her own wounds to give her time, summoned_ Katsuyu, and set to healing Sasuke. Within moments, he was conscious, and she was dead, her last words whispered in his ear.

_He later shared them, as she asked him to._

_"I love you. All of team 7 was my family, and I'm forever grateful for that. Don't get yourselves killed in this._ **Live** , for me, for Lady Tsunade...

**_For the future."_ **

.

.

.

.

.

"Where _is_ he? He left before _I_ did!"

From his perch in the tree, Aki watched the cute (naive) genin underneath him. He absent-mindedly fiddled with a loose feather, letting his mind wander back to that morning...

 _The red-head woke up at 4, giving him time to set up some traps in the_ _training_ _grounds. He packed his breakfast and lunch and left Naruto's lunch on top of his shoes. Aki had to make sure that the kid_ saw _it, after all._

 _The man smiled. He_ _had_ _a new seal to test out, but he needed someone else to help him. It was_ supposed _to record some_ _people's_ _chakra and activate when someone not recorded comes into contact_ _with_ _it. It was a_ _large,_ _complicated seal that_ _didn't_ _fit on any paper, so it had to be drawn from scratch. That_ _wasn't_ _much of a problem for the seal master, but it was tedious for anyone else. So, he approached_ _Kakashi's_ _chakra signature at 5 in the morning._

 _Unsurprisingly,_ _the Hatake was wallowing in despair in front of the Memorial Stone._

 _"Hey Kashi, come_ _help_ _me out with this seal."_

 _When_ _the_ _older man_ _didn't_ _respond, Aki sighed and took a jogging leap onto_ _Kakashi's_ _back, causing him to stumble forward. He just barely regained_ _his_ _balance before they both fell and looked over his shoulder to_ _find_ _the red-head clinging onto his back like a koala, limbs wrapped around him. "What was that for?"_

 _Aki shrugged half-heartedly_ _with a grin._ _"You_ _ignored_ _me. What_ _else_ _is an immature idiot supposed to do?_ _Poke_ _you?"_

 _Kashi_ _sighed_ _and just noticed the other's hooked limbs. 'So no shaking him off...' "_ _**Yes**_ _._ _Well,_ _you have my attention. What is_ _it_ _?"_

 _"A_ _new_ _seal. All_ _you'd_ _need to do is send some chakra into_ _it_ _and laugh at me when I_ _set_ _it off."_

_" You're going to set it off? _ _Shouldn't_ _it be the other way around?"_

_Aki shook his head and readjusted himself so he could_ _wave_ _his_ _arms_ _around_ _while he spoke. "I need_ _to_ _see if the main effect of the seal works, and if_ _ **you**_ _set it off, I_ _can't_ _see if it would. If_ **_I_** _set it off after writing it, then I_ _know_ _for sure. Now take me to the training grounds! We_ _need_ _more space!"_

 _"Walk there yourself," Kakashi stated bluntly but_ _didn't_ _try to force the energetic 'adult' off._

 _They ended up in a clearing with Aki drawing a seal around the silver-haired_ _jonin._ _He explained as he_ _worked._ _"This seal will take a little bit of your chakra and store it._ _Well, some of the chakra of everyone in the center. When someone comes in contact with the seal, it_ **_should_** _cross-check that_ _person's_ _chakra with the chakra it has stored. If_ _there's_ _a match, it_ _won't_ _do anything. That,_ _I've_ _already made sure of. If it isn't... it_ _should_ activate. It _doesn't_ _do_ _anything_ _if_ _there's_ _no stored chakra or if it's_ _similar chakra. For example, it_ _won't_ _activate_ _if a sibling or someone with_ _extremely_ _similar chakra_ _steps_ _into it unless I tweak the seal a bit._ _It'll_ _store any chakra it_ _activates_ _for, and each time_ _the_ _intruder chakra steps on it,_ _it'll_ _do something different. For this one, the first contact will release a cloud of glitter at me. The second will be various colors of paint. The_ _third_ _time_ _should be feathers, and the fourth time should release a cloud of chalk. Ready?"_

 _When Kakashi nodded, Aki_ _placed_ _the last line and flickered back a ways. "Now,_ _just_ _focus a little_ _chakra_ _into your feet and step on the lines."_

 _Kakashi did as told, but nothing happened. Aki nodded and continued. "_ _I'll_ _do the same."_

 _When he did... a cloud of clear glitter flew up into his face, coating_ _every_ _available_ _surface in the sparkly substance._ _The_ _red-head leaped back, and_ _the_ _seal absorbed all the extra glitter. With a triumphant grin, he again walked towards the seal,_ _this_ _time without channeling chakra into his feet._ _The_ _second he stepped on the seal, it exploded paint towards him, covering him in blue, pink, yellow, red, green, and white paint. It_ _didn't_ ** _just_** _get his front, so he was covered on all sides- even his hair fell victim to the blobs of color. He again leaped back and high-_ _fived_ _himself. "Now, to test it with my chakra suppressing seals active."_

 _Kakashi_ _didn't_ _notice at first, but he_ _could_ _sense Aki at_ _the_ _Memorial Stone. The younger male felt like..._ _Like_ _sunshine during a chilly day. Warm and bright. He_ definitely _noticed the_ _absence_ _of chakra where there was_ _once_ _warmth._

_With the suppressing seals active, Aki once more stepped onto the seal..._

_But it_ _didn't_ _react. Aki frowned. "_ _Either_ _my suppression seals are too good, or this seal is malfunctioning."_

 _Kakashi was a bit_ _worried._ _He was,_ _after_ _all, standing in the middle of a possibly malfunctioning seal. He had more than enough_ _scars-_ _both physical and mental- and traumatizing memories with Kushina and Minato and malfunctioning seals to be terrified. "_ _Malfunctioning_ _**how.** _ _"_

 _Aki shrugged and_ _started_ _walking_ _towards the older man. "_ _Can't_ _tell unless I study it a bit more. Just stay_ _there_ _and try not to_ _touch_ _anything for a bit, yeah?"_

 _Unfortunately, Kakashi_ _thought_ _to be a lil shit and flickered out of the seal, leaving a clone behind. Now,_ _the_ _seal could differentiate between clones, ninja, and other organisms, so it activated the second he left._

 _Aki only had_ _enough_ _time to pout_ _before_ _an_ _explosion_ _of feathers, glitter, chalk dust, and paint erupted in his face, covering the ninja from head_ _to_ _toe. "_ _KASHIIIIII_ _!!!!"_

Aki tuned back into the conversation when Kakashi started explaining the test. "You'll have until noon to take these bells from us."

At that moment, Aki flickered beside the older man and held out a bell, still covered in glitter, feathers, chalk dust, and paint. As soon as he saw the jonin, Naruto burst out laughing. "Aki-nii, what _happened_ to you?!"

The red-head grinned. "A certain dog is **_such_** a hypocrite. 'Never abandon comrades' my _ass._ He left me to suffer! And he hasn't even _apologized_! Just this morning, he tried to trick one of _my_ seals with a _standard_ _clone!_ As if _my_ creations would be fooled by _Tobirama's_ _shadow clones_ , let alone a _standard one_!" With a handheld dramatically to his forehead, the ginger called out, "Oh, the _pain_ of _betrayal_! Oh, the _horror_ of _abandonment_! Oh, how _could_ you _wound me so_ , Kashi?"

"But what happened?"

"That won't work, Sakura. He _never_ tells what he's working on until the next Great Prank War."

The eldest Uzumaki grinned as he fingers gunned at the genin. "A good Uzumaki **never** reveals their secrets. _Especially_ not during the buildup to the next Prank War."

"...Just _what_ do you _do_ in the Uzumaki household?"

Both Uzumaki turned to the Uchiha in sync and with identical serious looks on their faces. " _Hope you never find out._ "

At that moment, the three other teammates shivered, resigned understanding crossed their faces.

Then Kakashi cleared his throat. "So... shall we begin?"  
.

.

.

"They'll never pass like this," Aki stated at the silver-haired jonin beside him. Naruto had just been defeated, and the other two were still in hiding.

"That's the plan."

"Is this spite?"

"Yep."

"Why don't you just prank Hiruzen and blame it on either me or Naruto?"

"..."

Realization dawned on Aki's face with the contemplative silence. "I should _not_ have said that."

Their conversation was interrupted by several kunai flying at them. "I'll take this one, Kashi."  
.

.

"Aki-nii, _WHY. WHY DID YOU DO THIS!"_

The 'this' Naruto referenced was the absolute carnage the blond found himself in. He was covered in glitter and bright orange paint and surrounded on all sides by pits of dark blue paint with a seal beneath him and no way out.

Only maniacal laughter responded to his question, growing farther and farther with every second. _Revenge tastes sweet._  
.

.

"You... pass!"

Aki grinned at the team before him, remembering this moment well. His grin turned into a bittersweet smile as that memory led to the next and the next and on... which led to memories of the war and his losses. The rest of the day was a blur for him- _oh Kami,_ _they're_ ** _dead_** _and never_ ** _c oming back _****_and they_** ** _left me alone again and-_**

 **_Kit!_ ** **_They're_ ****_alive now. Not how you knew them, but you can keep them alive! Calm down!_ **

He blinked, seeing how he was pacing on top of his father's head for the first time, and took a deep breath. _Sorry._ _You're_ _right. Thanks._

He only heard a huff in the mindscape and sat down on one of the spikes in his father's hair, quickly falling into a meditative state as he calmed down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter, yeah. Sorry bout that, but I'm pretty bad at showing combat (as you'll see next chapter i think), and I really just wanted to showcase the tone of the story here. More than the fights, at least. And after this, I think imma go on a schedule. From now on, updates on Wednesdays! Why Wednesday?  
> Because today is Wednesday.  
> As always, thanks for reading! Hope you have a nice day/night :3


	6. Do The Wave!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dreaded Wave Mission begins! Feat. a glimpse of Aki's fighting style, habits, and theories.

_Neji_ _turned out to be a brother to him, once the fate stick was yanked from his ass. Loyal and intelligent and a close confidant within the group. And by 'group', Naruto meant the Rookie 9, Team Gai, the Sand Trio, and their respective teachers. Neji was as protective as Naruto and Kiba- which was actually impressive considering the boys' respective upbringings and differences._

_But of course Neji had to go and sacrifice himself. He wouldn't do anything else to save his precious people- or the people **his** people found precious. And in this world, where every life was worth more than gold and soldiers dropped like flies, someone saved was another thousand Zetsu dead. Not to mention, Yuki was supposed to have been at the camp, doing a surprise, routine sweep of the inhabitants. Because Yuki was an Uzumaki sensor, and could tell when someone was a Zetsu without using Sage Mode._

_When Naruto or Tsunade (who was alive but in awful mental condition at that point) were too busy to check the camps, Yuki often volenteered. Along with Shikamaru and Sakura, she created a system to tell who were Zetsu clones and who was truly who they said they were. The first and most accurate, was for a Sage or Yuki to verify. But if they couldn't be trusted, then the memory seal was used. If there weren't any left or if they were in a hurry, the people in questioned told a story only them and someone who was there would know._

_It was a false SOS that took Neji's life. The camp had already been raided and destroyed when the team got there, and had been dead for a while. No sign of Yuki- no signs of battle or kidnapping or death. Not that anyone knew- they still got reports from that camp till then and left no tracks of suspicious activity._

_Not until a call for help was issued. The call was legitimate- that's what made Naruto's blood boil later. The call was for real. Just delayed thanks to Zetsu. They recieved it weeks- maybe months- after the camp was destroyed._

_Neji_ _was the first to realize this when not even a_ **_trace_ ** _of chakra could be found anywhere. "Scram," he screamed, dropping into the Gentle Fist starting stance._

_"It's a trap!"_

_Tens of thousands of Zetsu clones came out of nowhere, quickly overwhelming the squadron._ _Neji_ _weighed the costs and options and decided on a course of action._

_"Leave! I'll catch up with you!"_

_... Everyone who heard that sentence (no matter the context or who said it nowadays) knew it was a lie, but no one argued or addressed it. No one_ would, _except Naruto_ , _Shikamaru_ _, Gaara, Sasuke, Sakura, Tsunade, or Kakashi. But by that time, nearly half of them were already dead. And Neji knew what his team saw **had** to reach Naruto- had to break the news that yet another precious person was missing and camp demolished._

 _Unheard to anyone,_ _Neji_ _said his final goodbyes under his breath, hoping someone would deliver them eventually. He didn't think it would happen, but he still held hope- one of the few left to do so. And even then, it was a cautious hope._

 _"Naruto..._ **_Thank you._ ** _Protect Lady Hinata in my place."_

.

.

.

"Team 7, as your first C-rank, you will act as bodyguards to the land of Waves." If anyone noticed how strained the redhead's smile became, no one mentioned it. Probably for the best, as Aki didn't want to have to explain _why_. "Please come in," the Third Hokage said after ignoring the genin's comments.

In walked a burly, drunk man that immediately started insulting Team 7. _Aki's_ team. _That won't slide, not with **my** family._ With a near-feral grin, Aki approached the bridge builder in slow, steady strides. " _My team_ here is the best suited for your... _situation,_ Tazuna, master bridge builder from the Waves. And I recommend not insulting us, then trying to play the pity card if your mission turns from a C to an A rank." Aki let just a bit of Kurama's chakra to give him fangs escape, and lifted his lips to show it in some form of a sneer. "We _are_ the ones putting our **lives** on the line, after all."

Ignoring the man's sputtering, Aki walked back to his team with his hands on his hips comfortably. "Kids, come on time tomorrow. And not _our_ version of 'on time'. Honestly, like 15 minutes early or so would be best. And throw out all food that would spoil within a month or so if you won't have anyone at home. What time should we meet, Kashi?"

"6 at the gate. Pack everything you'd need, and ask me or Aki if you don't know what to pack." The only red-head in the room nodded and flashed home to see Yuki.

.

.

"Darling girl? Wonderful Snowflake? Best Uzumaki in the whole wide world?"

"You don't need the flattery, Aki-nii," Yuki deadpanned, not looking up at him. She was well-aware that Aki was about to ask a favor of her or go on a long mission. And she did the exact same thing when _she_ needed a favor or an alliance for a prank. The only reason she cut Aki off so early was that she'd probably help him out, as she still owed him for the prank last week.

Y'know, where they set about ten thousand trap seals in the Hokage's office and adjourning rooms. Some held glitter, some held sand, some had feathers and paint, some had chalk dust. And some weren't as... _nice_. "What is it?"

He found the child in the kitchen, stood on a stool to reach the too-high counters. "Naruto and I are going on a mission to the Land of Waves, so you'll be the only one home for a while. And I was wondering if you had any friends you'd like to stay with for at least a few nights until we return."

She shrugged. "I'll ask some people. It shouldn't be a problem."

"And please don't prank the compound _too_ badly."

"No promises. I still need my full revenge on the Third Great Prank War."

A shudder ran down both of their spines at the intense chaos that particular war caused. Between the Uzumaki, it was nicknamed the Glitter War due to the sheer _amount_ of sparkles used. (The family was **still** finding glitter in random places [the kitchen sink, the fridge, on top of the roof, stuck to the side of the _toilet bowl_ ] even 6 months later. _**6\. Months!**_ )

"You mean the whoopee cushions weren't good enough?"

"Not even close."

"What about the feathers? The invisible glue you put on every surface that never dried? The case of the disappearing doorknobs? Changing every sliding door to a pulling door and vice-versa? Then undoing that prank a few weeks after we got used to it? Or shifting every piece of furniture 2 centimeters to the left so we tripped over everything and stubbed our toes? Shifting everything back four weeks later? The neon pink hair dye in our showers? Then the black, green, purple, silver, teal, lime green- _all with glitter, by the way._ The fake-but-way-too-real-looking spiders you hid in every dark corner we rarely check?"

"With all those, I'm about halfway done."

Aki took what he said about Naruto making the house bright pink for a week back. _This_ was the proudest he'd ever been of a human being- no- of _anything in his_ _life._ Though the house thing took second place. "At least don't use puns I wouldn't be proud of."

"So any pun is on the table."

"... Yes."

The next morning, Aki was very proud of how no one was late. They left on time after the safety speeches and were soon on their way. Surprisingly without incident, considering the team history, memebers, and fortune.

He decided to pass the time by telling stories. Well, not _decided,_ but when Naruto asked with those huge puppy eyes... How could he say no? And he knew he needed to open up about a few things- he could see the disappointment in the younger Uzumaki when he clammed up or changed the subject. Well, when they realized he had changed the tone once again. 

"Where did you learn sealing?"

"My godfather, actually. He was quite the sealing master and taught me while we traveled together."

"Your godfather?"

Aki nodded at the other jonin, a grin on his face. "Yeah. He was the first real family I ever knew. The first to make an effort to know me right off the bat. Granted, he wasn't good at the whole 'parenting/legal guardian' thing, but I wouldn't trade him for anything in the universe."

"What happened to him? You keep saying 'was'..."

Aki looked towards the pinkette, a sad smile on his face. "He gave his life gathering information on an enemy. One that threatened more than we knew at the time, and the one I wish I could have saved more than anything."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," he started, frowning in thought. "He was stronger than we thought and couldn't die. He was an advanced puppet master and had a powerful dojutsu. Have any of you ever heard of the Rinnegan?" When only Sasuke's eyes lightened with recognition, he gave a brief explanation. "Anyway, the enemy had that. I don't think we could have beat him without the information Er- my godfather got." At that moment, Aki tele[prted behind the puddle they passed, swiftly holding kunai to each of the Demon Brothers' throats. In a low, dangerous voice, he said, "You don't want to do that."

They froze while Team 7 turned around, the kids in shock, Kashi in curiosity, and Tazuna in fear. In a second, two shadow clones popped to life and secured the brothers. Once they were on the ground, Aki squatted in front of them, a rare serious and neutral expression on his face. For a long while, he just stared at them- as if he could see their very _souls_ if he looked long enough.

"Why were you targeting Tazuna."

The shinobi behind him subconsciously straightened, as if they were talking to their Kage. _Strange,_ Kakashi thought as Aki interrogated the brothers. _Why does he feel like a Kage? Why am I ready to fulfill his every command? Where did he learn to command the space like that? Is it simply instinct? Talent?_ He internally shrugged, deciding to put it off for later. After all, it only lasted a moment before everything went back to how it was. If he didn't know better, Kakashi'd say he imagined it, much like with the other... _interesting_ quirks of one Aki Uzumaki.

But he wasn't an ex-ANBU captain for nothing.

Soon enough, the group was back on track and crossing the river while Tazuna told his story.

Honestly, Aki just spoke with Kurama until something happened.

 _We're meeting_ _Zabuza_ _soon._

 **_And you_ ** **_want_ ** **_to save the two of them._ **

_It'd make the war a little easier. Not having to fight them, I mean. And maybe they'll get Mai into power sooner, or fight with us when the time comes. Because as weak as they were compared to Kakashi-sensei, they'd have had an easier time in the war. Maybe they'd have even survived it, with the extra few years of training and fighting. But at the same time, the effect their deaths had on our team was what gave us so much strength. They helped wake us up to what this world is really like, and what we were getting into. Who knows what would change if I saved them?_

_**There's a reason** _ _**you're** _ _**doing all the saving and not me. Do what you wish, I'm going to sleep.** _

Aki sighed in their shared mindscape and blinked, realizing how he was in midair, jumping over Zabuza's sword. The second passed and he was back on the ground, a neutral look on his face. "Well well well... If it isn't Copy-cat Kakashi. And a few faces I don't recognize. Is that an Uzumaki and an Uchiha?"

Aki grinned, showing obvious giddyness to anyone who knew what to look for. And were searching for it. "Why don't you come here and find out?" The taunt was disguised as a question in all but tone.

Laughter filled the area as Zabuza materialized on his sword. "You've got guts. Who are you?" Zabuza's eyes held curiosity and amusement, sure of his victory.

Aki gave an exaggerated bow, right arm fully extended as far as it'd go and left crossing his stomach, eyes never leaving Zabuza's. "Aki Uzumaki, at my service. And you're Zabuza Momochi, the so-called Demon of the Mist," he said, straightening up and keeping his eyes on Zabuza and a smile on his face. "Great, we all know each other. Can we get this started now?"

The missing-nin gave a loud laugh, head thrown back and eyes squinted shut. "Alright, alright." In a second, he turned serious. "Let's get this over with."

Without losing his grin, Aki motioned for the kids to stay behind him. "Remember: your top priority is Tazuna's safety. If both of us are neutralized- which is highly unlikely- your main goal is making sure nothing happens to him. _If_ you can help us **_and_** keep him safe, you are more than welcome to try. **_If_** we can't do it ourselves. Understood?"

When he got nods, he turned back towards Zabuza and relaxed his stance. A quick glance at Kashi told Aki everything he needed to know- the Hatake would take the backseat unless Aki needed him. Which meant the Uzumaki had all the opportunity he wanted to take control of the situation and give his warnings.

Aki smirked and popped his knuckles. Without a word, he unsealed a few kunai from storage seals on his arms, throwing them at the missing-nin. Zabuza only blocked using his huge sword and rushed towards Kakashi, hoping to take out the known element first. Aki flashed between them, knocking the huge blade away with a kunai. Without missing a beat, Zabuza kicked out, aiming to take out Aki's legs. The ginger hopped, using the handle of the sword to gain a bit more altitude. Without so much as a blink, his leg came down on Zabuza's head, but the nin leaped backward at the last second, taking his sword with him. 

All of which happened in aproximately a milisecond.

"You're not bad."

Aki shrugged, blank look back on his face. But Kashi was starting to see the expression for what it was- emptiness. A similar feeling Hound specialized in. And Kashi wondered if he was about to witness a first in all his time of knowing the Uzumaki.

_Aki's getting serious._

Aki slowly exhaled through his nose, posture relaxing with every nanosecond. He lowered his body to the ground- similar to the Inuzaka's taijutsu style, Kashi noted. And where did Aki learn that?

Zabuza _blinked_ and the red-head was gone. He whirled around, ducking under a leg at the last second. He shot his blade up, hoping to catch the limb, but Aki was gone again, behind him with a kunai to his side.

Then the water clone popped out of _no where_ and a heavy mist surrounded Team 7. Zabuza probably realized how out-matched he was and deciced to just go ahead and get the job done. Aki simply closed his eyes, gripped his kunai tighter, and ran into the mist.

From where he was within the mist, Kakashi couldn't see much. A spark here, a strand of red hair there. He remained on guard the entire time, knowing that the odds of Aki- no matter how overpowered- being caught in some kind of trap with clones was higher than he'd like. He knew when Zabuza was defeated, though, when the mist let up to show a panting Zabuza and a relaxed Aki just staring at him. _So no trap, then._

"What... What _are_ you?!"

"Ouch. My feelings. I'm human." Aki's lips were pulled into a polite smile, his eyes curving into a familiar eye-smile.

Zabuza snorted between breaths, blood trickling down his side. "As if a _human_ could do all that. _How_ are you not in the bingo book?"

Aki shrugged. "I stayed in a dead village for a while. There wasn't exactly a bunch of people around."

 _Not a lie, but I_ _was_ _in the bingo book. Back when I was 14, I scared a few people. They put me in and my rank eventually climbed to S. If the war was against actual people... I would've had a flee on sight order. Just like dear old Dad._

Aki blinked back into reality just as Haku came down to get Zabuza. He let them go and turned to the kids, a lazy grin back on his face to hide his slight concern. "None of you are hurt, right?"

When no one confirmed injuries, the group moved on. "I keep forgetting you're an actual jonin, Aki-nii. You sure don't act like it."

Aki laughed at his younger self, rubbing the back of his head nervously. _Where have I seen that before,_ three minds questioned as he responded. "Not _all_ of us are as stuck-up as you think. But if you wanna see a by the book person, just look at Kashi."

The three children simultaneously glanced at the red-head, suspicion in their eyes. The Hatake sent a curious glance at Aki, wondering who told the Uzumaki about what kind of kid he used to be. (He'd realize later, in a dark tent overhearing a conversation not meant for him, that _he_ was the one to tell the Uzumaki, along with several other secrets.) Mentally, Aki cheered, having redirected their attention off of him. "You're crazy. Finally mental. You finally snapped after the last Prank War."

Aki laughed again as the other two children nodded. "Seriously! Before he turned 15, he was the most serious person you'd ever meet! He was all by the book, never late, and was all serious all the time!" In a low whisper and leaning towards the children, he said with wide eyes, "He was worse than _Sasuke!"_

Naruto dramatically gasped, face and chakra showing nothing but shock and disbelief. " _No! No one's_ worse than _Sasuke!"_

Aki only nodded sagely as the Uchiha gave a warning growl. " _Watch it,_ _Uzumakis_ _."_

The two only whistled innocently and put their hands behind their heads- identical looks on their face.

 _Now that's strange. It can't just be an Uzumaki thing because_ _Kushina_ _didn't have a face like that. Something similar when she got in trouble, but not to the extent as they do._

Kakashi spent the rest of the trip debating on why and how the two Uzumaki acted so similarly. He came up with quite a few theories, but they were all outrageous and only brought more questions.

What were the chances of time travel, anyway?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Wednesday everyone! The first chapter of the Wave Mission, plus the first chapter actually on the schedule. Happy happy day!  
> I wonder what happened to Yuki...?   
> Anyway, please be aware that there are quite a few character interactions and scenes that have/are gonna happen within this story, but they won't be shown until the 'Fillers and Scenes' chapter.   
> The reason for this is I want to get through important story bits first, then add onto that chapter as the scenes come to mind. So it might not come out for a while, or there'll be several chapters like that, or they'll come out randomly. Dunno yet, but I'll post them as they get done and as they align in the story (mostly). Like the first one won't come out till after the chunin exams for spoiler reasons, but it'll come before the time skip and the second will come probably before Pein's attack, but after Aki first meets the Akatsuki face-to-face.  
> Why am I telling you this?  
> It's so you keep hope for certain character interactions, and you don't think what's written is all there is. And so if there's someone specific you wanna see interact with Aki, you can ask in the comments, as there will probably be a few people I forget from time to time.  
> (But don't worry about Team Gai missing the spotlight. That YOUTH tag's there for a reason ;3)  
> Anyway, imma head off now. As always, have a nice day/night, and I hope to see you next chapter!!


	7. The Rabbit and Operation Moo Moo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting our fav pacifist femboy, plus a sneak peek at the Sacred Rules of Prank.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a double update only a week after setting a schedule?  
> more likely than you think.

_I don't think we can save them. Their deaths made a huge impact on us, and I don't know what kind of ninja I'd be without it._

_**Then don't save them.** _

_But having their help in the war would be such a huge_ _help-_ _especially if they keep training and getting stronger._

_**Then save them.** _

_But Zabuza may not follow Haku then!_

_**Then don't save them.** _

_But-_

An annoyed growl erupted in the mindscape, cutting off Aki's next thought. _**Make up your mind.**_

_But what if I make a mistake?_

_**You've made mistakes before. One more won't hurt much. And if you're** _ _**that** _ _**worried about it, make a seal or something to keep them alive long enough for treatment.** _

_That's it! Thanks, Kura!_

The ginger snapped up from his seat, startling the other occupants at the dinner table. Well, minus Naruto, who sighed in resignation. "We're _so_ dead. Aki-nii pro'lly figured out his big seal or something."

The red-head grinned foxily, his eyes bright. "Relax, it's not a seal for the Prank War."

Naruto snorted, elbow coming to rest on the table so he could point at the jonin. "The last time you said that you filled the house with invisible walls. Yuki and I were running into them for _months!_ I still don't think they're all gone," he stated, narrowing his eyes in well-earned suspicion.

"And it wasn't during a Prank War," Aki reminded.

"You called that _training,_ but wonder why Yuki's still getting revenge! You know she lumps it with the Glitter War."

The two Uzumaki shuddered, flashbacks of the monstrous little girl wreaking havoc with every passing second. Dread filled Aki's eyes as he realized something. "We're here for over a month," he near-whispered.

Naruto's eyes widened as he realized what that meant. "How long does the-"

"A little over a month..." The blond stood up hurriedly, full-on _panic_ in his face. The first panic anyone had ever seen from him in this timeline, all because of... a time frame?

"We gotta go! She'll destroy the whole village!"

Aki held up a hand, slightly less panicked. _**Slightly.**_

"She knows I can teleport back home any time. She wouldn't do anything with that threat."

"Unless she knows you'd say that and planned on that satisfying our panicked states," Naruto nearly shouted, waving his arms around as he talked. "She might do it anyway!"

"What are you talking about?"

The Uzumakis froze, then turned to the voice- coming from Sasuke, of course. They chuckled nervously and sat back down. "Well," Aki started. "I... May or may not have.........createdahuge explosivesealtesteditinthedessertcausingamassivesandstormandtaughttwoimpulsiveyoungtalentedUzumakihowtomakeit."

The table was silent for a moment before someone said, "What."

"Explain again, but slower," Kakashi said, narrowing his eyes at the red-head. Now, Kakashi was a war veteran, active shinobi, and with a clan who had very strong ties and similarities to wolves. He learned to trust his instincts before he could _walk,_ and right now? 

They didn't like where this was going.

Aki smiled sheepishly, eyes marking the exits to the room. "I may have... created a huge explosive seal, tested it in the desert causing a massive sandstorm, and taught two impulsive, young, talented Uzumaki how to make it."

Kakashi's eyes hardened as he sat up a bit straighter. " _How_ explosive?" He remembered Kushina's seals easily, ranging from massive destruction to harmless pranks with a single character.

Aki chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck while answering. "Enough to leave a huge crater in the sands of Suna? For a week?"

Kashi's eyes widened as he, too, abruptly stood up. "You taught that to _children?!"_

"In my defense, they pinkie-swore not to use it outside of dire emergencies! And it'll take them a long time to write it up! Someone will notice her drawing such a huge seal!"

" _That doesn't help!"_

Aki sheepishly backed down, a nervous smile back on his face. "Well, she might alter it. Make it harmless for the most part. She promised no destroying the village!"

"You forget our 'training'," Naruto chimed in, taking a bite of dinner. " _No one_ can track us down but ourselves at this point, and she's the sneakiest of us. You even said _you_ have trouble sensing her!"

Aki chuckled as Sasuke's eyes brightened at 'training'. "What training?"

Naruto groaned and leaned back, waving his arms around. "Absolutely nothing," he complained. "He has us pull all these pranks, and if we get caught it's a bunch of boring stuff for a week." With a pout, the blond remembered a particular week that had him doing nothing but chakra training. _If_ he tried to get out of it, his seals would be taken away for a month and he'd be on a prank probation, and he didn't know _how_ but the red-head **always** knew if he skipped training.

Aki laughed before explaining. "He thought he could get away with planting an ice bucket in the Hokage's office. A classic, but difficult. On his escape-" Aki laughed again at Naruto's 'Shut _up'_ and crimson face "-he activated the bucket _and_ the seal Yuki left on the door frame!"

"What did the seal do," Sakura asked, curiosity in her voice and wondering why Aki was laughing so hard.

"It-" Aki dodged a ball of yellow and orange, quickly holding the kid up by the scruff of his jacket so he could speak. "It turned his hair neon orange for a month! _And_ gave him extreme clumsiness for a week! He was tripping over his own feet every two minutes, but couldn't do anything about it, as per the Sacred Rules of Prank." Naruto hadn't stopped struggling, but couldn't reach anything with his short limbs, yelling and shouting long after Aki stopped talking.

.

.

_Sasuke was the second-to-last to go, having the skill, brains, and will to survive much longer than most others. The only ones to outlive him? Naruto, Kakashi, and Madara Uchiha himself._

_He became reckless after Sakura's death, caring less about his own safety and goals and only focusing on getting revenge for her. What was it with Sasuke and revenge for murder...? He was always pushing himself harder and farther than he should've, and if Sakura could see him... She'd knock him out and force him to rest._

_As it was, he saved the other two many times with his behavior and dealt huge losses to the enemy. As much as Naruto and Kakashi hated it... they couldn't afford to let him_ _rest-_ _none of them could afford rest. It was the fourth year, and they all felt the war slow a bit, their side finally gaining the upper hand._

_They expected Sasuke's collapse, but they just hoped it would be somewhere safe. Not in the middle of the final battle, their final enemy right there to take the opening._

_He was dead before his body hit the ground, thanks to the black Zetsu waiting behind him._

_The rest of the battle was a blur to Naruto._

Aki woke silently once again, a habit he picked up when one too many camps were decimated from him screaming awake from a nightmare. His heart still raced, his throat uncomfortably dry, and his skin sticky with sweat, though. He hadn't figured out how to quell those symptoms yet- let alone the dreams themselves. Though after a moment, his brain finally calmed down enough to be considered sleepy. He wasn't a morning person, after all, and usually required a bit more time to fully wake up than anyone else. Besides maybe Sakura, as she had joined him in their dislike of morning people.

He sat up and sighed, already knowing he couldn't go back to sleep. Partially from the nightmare, partially from years surviving on as little sleep as possible, partially from the threat of Zabuza and hired mercenaries. Aki could easily dispatch them, yes, but that didn't quell his paranoid shinobi mind. He checked the window, mentally figuring it was around 4 AM. He stood, stretched, and silently padded to the bathroom, planning to take a quick shower or something before he went about his daily routine.

He didn't even blink at the other jonin in the room, bare except for the towel around his hips. ( _There wasn't much for privacy in the war- not when they'd been right on the front lines together for years at that point_.) The red-head just nodded sleepily at the man, stepped around him, and grabbed a toothbrush, letting his half-asleep mind slowly wake up as his eyes slid closed while he brushed his teeth.

It took a second, but Kashi soon cleared his throat. "Morning."

Aki nodded, mumbling something incoherent without moving. The Hatake chuckled lowly, not leaving for whatever reason. "Not a morning person?"

Aki shrugged, spit, and replied. "Sometimes. Depends on how, when, and why I wake up." He wrapped up his dental hygiene before replying. "When I wake around people I'm comfortable with... This happens." He gestured at his half-asleep state before continuing. "If I'm shocked awake or am in enemy territory by myself, I'm much more alert if you can believe it." He undid his braid, keeping his eyes shut and his body turned to the mirror as he brushed through the long red strands with his fingers to untangle it a little. Sometime during this, Kakashi left the small room, so Aki hopped into the shower and unsealed what he needed. Five minutes later, he was out, dressed up to his hips, and a towel on his wet hair. _'Maybe I should cut this... it's really long now... but it's also one more thing separating me from Naruto.'_

He decided to cheat a little and used the wind to dry it faster, pulling on a loose, dark blue, long-sleeved shirt once his hair was dry. A few of his tattoos peeked out from his shirt, the main ones being Tsunade's, his own, and a recent one he got for Shikamaru- a dark deer outline on his collarbone. Coupled with his ANBU pants and bare feet, he didn't really _look_ like a ninja, let alone a war veteran. But he was comfortable, so it didn't really matter to him. It was only around 4:15, so he silently made a clone without hand signs and flickered outside, searching for a clearing in the forest to experiment with the seal he needed.

He sensed a familiar, cold presence at around 7, his mind screeching to a halt as he felt the chakra approach. Outwardly, he continued on like nothing was happening. On the inside?

He was _freaking. Out._ The man who had helped bring clarity to his Nindo, who cemented the kind of shinobi he wanted to be. Who he watched his teacher kill. That man was alive and didn't know him here.

As soon as he knew he'd be able to see Haku, he forced himself to calm down and looked up. The boy was wearing the same pink kimono he first saw the boy in, and, man, did that bring back memories.

He smiled at the ice-user, who smiled politely back, nodded, and started towards him, careful not to step on the mess of papers all around the red-head. "Hey there," Aki greeted, turning back to the page laying directly in front of him. "Sorry about the mess, but I've hit a kind of roadblock with this stubborn seal." _Not true, but he could always use the input of another person. Aki was a people person- left alone with his thoughts too long and he'd start to spiral._

_Again._

Haku nodded, folding his legs under him and taking a seat beside the red-head. "What do you need help with, Shinobi-san?"

"Call me Aki," he said, leaning back on his hands. "'Shinobi-san' is way too polite for a nobody like me." He waved the page around before explaining. "Well, I'm trying to make a kind of stasis seal."

Haku's eyebrow rose in question. "A... stasis seal?"

He nodded, leaning his elbow on his knee and plopping his head into his hand. "I'm making a seal for injured people. To pause time for them until they can receive medical help."

Haku stilled, eyes going slightly wide. "Is... Is that _possible_? I've never heard of something like that being done..."

Aki nodded easily, pointing to a nearby paper on his left detailing a complicated but small seal. "This is a normal stasis seal, but if I can tweak it a bit, it'll work." Haku nodded along, seemingly absorbing every word. Perhaps for later use, but if Haku could make this kind of seal, he'd probably use it to save more people. A good thing, in Aki's book. "But I need help testing it, is the problem. I can't do blood-clones for the life of me and shadow-clones pop when they get hurt." He sighed, rubbing his head and messing his hair. "But hurting someone or something is unethical and mean."

He shrugged, deciding something at that moment. "But... That doesn't matter. I _really_ need to test if this can support human life for an extended amount of time, so..." Without a hand sign or a word, a clone poofed to life, saluted with an easy smile, and stepped onto the chalk lines in the grass, small enough to put on a paper but large enough to stand in the center of. Aki made a hand sign and the seal glowed a normal blue and the clone vanished into it.

With a sigh, he leaned back against the tree and let his gaze slide over to the boy near him. At his questioning look, Aki chuckled and explained. "Stasis seals are made to transport bodies in the condition they're in, right? That includes stages of death, injuries, etc. They don't account for air or water and such, effectively pausing time in that space. So if I can account for what a body needs..."

"You could keep a mortally wounded person alive indefinitely," Haku said, voice filled with awe. "What got you thinking about this?"

Aki blinked at the boy, surprise filling his veins. He hummed, putting his hands behind his head and looking up in thought. "Well..." His mind flashed back to the war, quickly shutting down and returning to the present when he realized the path he was going down. "I was in a bad war. The bloodiest the world ever saw." _And the last._ "The main reason so many of my friends died was that they didn't have enough time. To get help, to make it back, to realize a false SOS was a trap." He let out a breath and relaxed, looking back at Haku from the corner of his eyes. "I'm tired of losing my precious people because I wasn't fast enough. Because time marched too quickly. Because I didn't have enough time to make up for my mistakes."

"You lost a lot of precious people... Didn't you?"

He nodded sadly. "Yeah."

"If you don't mind me asking... How do you go on?"

Aki looked at the child beside him and hummed in thought. "Because they'd want me to. They believed in me, and now... now I can prove how that wasn't a mistake. That they didn't waste their time believing in a nobody looser like me by protecting and carrying on their wishes for me and our home."

Aki dropped his hands, leaning back over the sealing papers in front of him, his clone still alive. He unsealed the clone.

"Hey, Boss. What's up?"

"How long were you sealed?"

The clone didn't even blink before answering the strange question. "Not even a second ago. But it seems a few moments passed, so I'd say that's a success." A grin spread on the two red-heads, triumph lighting their features. "Good job, Boss. Operation Moo Moo and Rabbit is a go."

Aki nodded, standing easily. "You know what to do?"

The clone rolled his eyes, crossing his arms and leaning on one hip. "Obviously. Leave it to me."

He nodded and the clone disappeared. He held out a hand to the boy, a grin on his face. Haku took it, easily lifting himself up with a quiet 'thank you'.

"Don't thank me. Not after I hurt your precious person."

Haku froze subtly, letting confusion cloud his features. "I beg your pardon? I'm afraid I've never met you before today, Aki-san."

Aki chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Perhaps. Perhaps not. You sure feel familiar, though... Maybe I was mistaken?" He shrugged and turned towards the village. "Either way, I'm sorry to have taken so much of your time. I'm sure you have things to do." Without another word, the redhead disappeared in a bright red flash, leaving a curious Haku in the clearing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter seveeennnn, here we go! I'm glad so many of you seem to like this silly little story =3  
> The tone of this fic came from when I wanted to try writing something lighter. Something that'd make me smile stupidly at my screen at three AM and try to stifle laughter way too late at night. Especially since my writing style at that point was a lot more serious and dry. And I honestly didn't expect anything to come from this, but my good friend and I started talking about various platforms for fics, and I knew this had to be the first story published on it.  
> Ok, word dump over, sorry bout that  
> Thank you so much for reading this! Hopefully, I'll see you next chapter, too!


	8. Uzushio

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Waves mission comes to a close, and Team 7 sees Uzushio for the first time.

_Ino_ _and_ _Choji_ _died on the same_ _mission-_ _a supposedly simple recon mission. Shikamaru wasn't with them because he was stuck in a meeting, but he blamed their deaths on himself for the better part of three months. Even then, he never truly recovered._

_At that point, they were the last Ino-_ _Shika_ _-Cho. The last to be and to live, since no one had the time to have and raise an heir. They barely had the time to sleep a few minutes before heading back out onto the field._

_No one heard their last_ _words-_ _none from their respective groups surviving. That didn't make their deaths easier on anyone._

_Shikamaru was never the same again._

_._

_._

_._

Aki stood completely still, keeping an eye on Zabuza, Haku, and his team while letting his clone's memories fill his head. The threat was neutralized and Tazuna's family was safe. For the moment, at least. And a clone was sent to prepare the back-up plans. "Well, look who's here."

The Uzumaki looked at the speaker, Zabuza, and only let an easy smile overtake his face.

The only things he noted as different? Naruto immediately got stuck in the ice dome with Sasuke and Sakura wasn't shaking as much. Zabuza wasn't fully healed and was way warier than before. Aki stood lazily, posture relaxed, as he surveyed the area, setting up a protective barrier around Sakura and Tazuna without so much as a blink. The others on the bridge didn't notice, otherwise, Zabuza would've started attacking him.

He grinned as Sasuke awakened his Sharingan, deciding it's been long enough. "Ready for our rematch, Zabuza?"

The missing-nin didn't react outside of the "You arrogant little-"

"lAnGuAgE! There are tiny small ones present!"

In a blink, Aki was behind Zabuza and Kakashi was sending some jutsu at the ice dome, trying to help his kids. Once Aki and Zabuza parted, the red-head switched places with the Hatake, a simple, "I have more chakra," taking place of an explanation. The red-head released some of his limiting seals, his chakra radiating off him in powerful, intimidating waves. Waves that mostly focused around the mirrors instead of spreading.

_The mirrors cracked, just from his chakra. He's dangerous. They aren't reforming at all. Who **is** this man? I can see how he challenged _ _Zabuza-sama_ _like that..._

Without moving, Aki made the wind around them slice through the mirrors, turning them into a fine hail. Luckily for Haku, the only mirror left was the one he was in, and even that was destroyed after he had just enough time to leave it. The boy crouched low, tense as a spring.

"You have a special someone to protect, Aki-san."

Aki only let a brief glance of grief fly across his face, his smile never leaving. "Now? Yes. A few. But the ones I got strong _for_ are all dead. Have been for a long time now. I _never_ would've gotten here without the friends I had at my back."

_"You **idiot!** You'll get yourself killed!"_

_"Naruto, you moron! Don't talk to the Hokage like that! Have some respect!"_

_"_ _Maa_ _... That's our number one unpredictable knuckleheaded ninja, Naruto Uzumaki."_

_"Mother wants your blood. Who are you?"_

_"Don't call me_ _Pervy_ _Sage!"_

_"I'm not a Granny, brat!"_

_"Troublesome."_

_"Don't let Forehead get you down too much."_

_"Come get barbeque with us!"_

_"My name is Sai."_

_"I'll be your temporary jonin-sensei on this mission. My name is Yamato."_

_"Naruto, I'm sure you know_ _Temari_ _of the Sand."_

_"It's because..... I love you! I always have! And I won't let him hurt you anymore!"_

_"I will help you. Why? Because.... I don't need a because!"_

_"We got your back, don't we_ _Akamaru_ _?"_

_"Bark!"_

_"Call me 'Dad'. I may not have much time, but I want to get to know you the way I should've."_

_"You moron! I'm not the_ _Kyuubi_ _!"_

_"Call me B!"_

_"The flames of your youth shine very bright, Naruto!"_

_"It's your destiny to lose to me today."_

_"Welcome to my weapons shop! I'm_ _Tenten_ _, how can I help you?"_

_"You don't know true pain!"_

_"Take this. As long as the petals are on it, take it as a sign I'm alive."_

Aki blinked, noticing only a second had passed, and smiled. _Yeah... There's no way I'd do this if it weren't for them._

.

.

"I'll take the bodies."

No-one stopped him as he sealed away the bodies into the seal he tampered with, keeping them alive within the parchment until he could get Tsunade to look at them. _Sorry, you two. You're not going to the afterlife just yet._

Once they made it back to the hut, Aki grinned easily and stood at the table. "How about that island trip?"

.

.

"Now hold on tight, alright?"

A second later, the group stood on Uzu sand, the waves lapping up to meet them a little ways away and the forest fading a ways away into the edge of the ruins. The sands were soft and white, the ocean a blue that rivaled Naruto's eyes, and the forest was emerald green, the sun shining through the leaves turning the floor into emerald spots. Seagulls cawed from above, insects buzzed from the forest, the shadow-clones made a bit of ruckus from the ruins, a few dolphins leaped up from the waves, paradise birds called from the trees... All in all, very peaceful. And _alive._ All around, nature chakra flowed in abundance as well as normal chakra. No one could sense around the natural chakra since there was so much of it except Aki and -maybe one day- Naruto and Yuki.

Aki had sat on Uzu meditating and gathering nature chakra for so long, the chakra around the island felt normal to him and he was able to tell when someone was there. He was able to tell if they were Uzumaki, too, since the chakra swirled around an Uzumaki in small waves, slowly getting to its full density as if welcoming the Uzumaki home. For others, it had no such respect, flowing around and through them as it always would. So when Sakura started hyperventilating and Kakashi looked a bit pale, Aki wrapped an arm around the jonin's shoulders and pressed his body to the older's side, easily lifting Sakura and holding her with one arm as well. He chuckled a little, an apologetic smile on his face.

"Sorry. I didn't know any of you were chakra-sensitive besides Naruto."

"Why isn't he feeling this?"

"It's Uzushio's chakra. It recognizes Uzumaki blood and chakra and comes to us much slower." Once Sakura's breathing went back to normal- if a little fast- and Kakashi's face got it's color back, Aki set the child down and put a little space between him and the other jonin- not much if the heat he felt from the man was an indicator, but enough so the man didn't feel forced to stay. "Stay by Naruto or me and the chakra won't overwhelm you. Probably."

"I _told_ you it wasn't dead, Teme!"

"Shut up, Dobe."

"Teme!"

"Dobe!"

As the children argued, Aki's shoulder began cramping at the height difference- Kakashi was a head taller than the younger jonin, even back in his own timeline. (He blamed the lack of proper nutrition in his childhood.) So, he lifted his arm from Kashi's shoulder and dropped it around his waist, not touching him until Kakashi gave a nod. In a whisper, he said, "Sorry for just... coming up to you. You looked a little pale and I kinda panicked."

"It's alright," the older man replied, slinging his arm around the other's shoulders. "Thanks. I wasn't expecting so.... _much_ of it."

Aki nodded, then looked back at the kids, who had started sparring. He purposefully ignored a particularly loud explosion- a bit of luck masking the shadow clones' antics with the boys'. "They're good kids. Good kids that got dealt a rotten hand."

"Nearly impossible to teach. Why do they listen to you?"

Aki blinked at the jonin, then looked back at the fighting boys before answering. "If I had to guess... Naruto probably listens to me cuz I'm his family, Sasuke listens because I don't choose him over anyone all the time, and Sakura always listens to her teachers." He shrugged as the fight escalated. "But that's just a guess." They stood in silence, watching the fight until both boys, panting and exhausted, collapsed on the sand, Sakura rushing over to Sasuke as Aki moved towards Naruto, Kakashi still in the red-heads arms.

"You okay, Kit? Got him good and got good?"

The blond nodded, rolling onto his back and staring to the sky. "Yeah."

Aki nodded, letting go of the Hatake and squatting down beside the blond. "Good. That means you're growing and learning. It means you have someone to push you harder than you'd ever be able to push yourself, and it means both of you will get stronger because of it."

"Did-" the blond took a deep breath, trying to slow his breathing a little. "Did you have someone like that?"

Aki grinned, a real smile flowing onto his face for the first time since... Well, since the losses started piling up during the war. The first real smile anyone in that timeline had the honor of seeing, as tinged with sadness and nostalgia as it was. 

Kakashi thought he wouldn't mind seeing that smile more often. "He was my best friend. We fought like cats and dogs but in the end... We'd both die for each other," Aki stated without faltering. As though saying the sky was blue or his hair was red. (Except Aki would falter on claiming his hair was Uzumaki red, as he forgot sometimes.)

The child looked up at the red-head, a sad look on his face. "He's not here anymore, is he?"

Aki shook his head sadly, a small smile on his face. "He's long gone, now. He saved me more times than I care to count and pushed me farther than I ever thought possible. He was an idiot, but so was I." Aki gave a slight laugh, mirth in his eyes. "He was my Sasuke, but we had a much stronger bond after those years."

Understanding flew through Naruto's eyes, face lighting up in hope during his next question. "Could _we_ be like that?"

Aki grinned. "You're already on that track. Keep being there for him and pushing him, and you'll get there one day."

A smile formed on the blond's face as Aki helped the boy up. "You mean it?"

The older Uzumaki nodded easily. "We were just like you, back in our genin team. Believe it or not, _he_ was the Sasuke in our relationship."

Naruto's eyes widened, shock filling his face. "You were like me?"

Aki grinned, ruffling the blond locks. " _Exactly_ like you. I was a rambunctious, energetic, prankster that no one in my village liked. They thought I'd bring bounty hunters with my Uzumaki-ness and always tried to run me out. When I got on the same team as the prodigy of my class, many rioted against it, saying I'd get the team killed. I had too much chakra, no control, too much energy, and a heart ten times too big. I couldn't even do the standard clone jutsu. Still can't."

Kakashi's eyebrows rose while shock went across Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke's faces. " _Really?"_

"I don't believe it. How'd you graduate without the clone jutsu?"

"Prove it."

Aki grinned, made his hand signs, gathered his chakra like he was supposed to, and... there poofed a clone looking a bit too identical to the ones Naruto made. Everyone blinked at the clone, then to Aki. " ** _Huuuuh_** ** _?!"_**

"That looks just like one of _my_ clones!"

"You.... _actually_ can't do a standard clone."

Aki grinned at them, standing tall. "I really can't. Too much chakra and not enough control. I never got a good education and none of my teachers tried helping me through my disabilities."

"Your _what_."

Aki looked at the furious Hatake and nodded. "I have ADHD and dyslexia- both common among Uzumaki. Makes _sealing_ a lot easier, but learning from scrolls or sitting down long enough to figure them out..." He shook his head as the understanding went through Team 7, being reminded of a certain Uzumaki.

"Learning by doing was always my friend, but I was thrown out of weapons shops, even after I became a genin, so I couldn't ever practice my aim. No one taught me katas or proper taijutsu, so mine was a mismatch of what I got from watching other shinobi." The red-head shrugged as rage swelled up in Team 7, minus Naruto who filled with understanding. It seemed Kakashi noticed that as the Hatake looked over at Naruto, surprise and grief in his eyes.

"Anyway, it's too late for me to learn the jutsu or _completely_ perfect my chakra control, but training makes up for it."

"Um, Sensei? You say you have a lot of chakra... but I don't feel anything from you."

Aki grinned as the others thought about it, but nodded. When they looked at him expectantly, he lifted his shirt and sent chakra to his stomach, where Kurama's seal used to be. A large and intricate seal bloomed to life, dark ink swirling around his skin like water. "That's thanks to this seal. It suppresses my chakra when active and makes it identical to my surroundings. To a sensor, I don't exist."

"How," Kakashi asked while he and the kids studied the seal- Naruto in particular.

"It suppresses _my_ chakra, then filters whatever chakra's in the environment and spreads it over and through me. If I deactivate it and my other seals..." He pulsed his chakra, stopping his stealth seals from working and letting his chakra flow normally- letting it go in waves and flow wherever it wanted. Team 7s eyes widened at the amount alone, Sakura and Naruto wincing at the feeling. 

To them, it was like an ocean. Endless, deep, and wide, filled with mystery and question. For those who could sense better, they felt his unending joy and energy, but also a sadness bone-deep no one knew was there. They felt trauma and _pain_ and hope and scars and so many other feelings. They felt the warmth that was Aki Uzumaki as well as the hidden similarity to Naruto, but how something was... _different_... in the feeling of his chakra. Something ancient and wise and hurt and healing.

At that moment, every sensor on Earth knew something big was at Uzushiogakure- something powerful and warm. Something they wanted on their side- or some _one_. But no one knew who it was or where they lived, immediately informing their leaders of the presence that disappeared as suddenly as it came.

But Kakashi? He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, only opening them when Aki reactivated his seals and looking at the red-head in a new light. He recognized the pain he felt of losing someone important, of finding family only to lose them. Of regret and self-loathing and borderline suicidal desires. Of grief and hopelessness and determination and pure pain. Of healing and effort and sleeplessness and desperation and hope and energy.

He recognized the feeling of depression, having known the state well. He recognized the feeling of help, of healing, mainly from the people who slowly stopped going to Inochi and the Yamanaka therapy sessions.

And he felt for the red-head. Way more than he would ever admit aloud.

But then the moment was over and Aki's seal was reactivated, smile on the Uzumaki's face once more. "Who wants to explore?"

.

.

.

Aki noticed how Sakura was more interested in the plants, asking him all about everything he knew. So when they decided to turn in for the night, Aki walked up to her with a grin. "Hey, Sakura?"

She looked at him, a smile and question on her face. "What is it, Sensei?"

He unsealed _his_ Sakura's journal, the only mention of who it belonged to being an _S.U_. on the cover for _Sakura Uchiha-Uzumaki._ The three of them had let each other into their respective clans, sharing names and seals and traditions before their deaths. 

That only made their deaths hit harder, as Naruto lost the first and last family he'd ever had.

He held out the brown, worn journal to the pinkette, a sad smile on his face. "This was my other teammate's journal. She was so smart and talented and she was the best medic in the whole wide world. She kept us in line and alive and gave her life to heal our teammate." He took a deep breath as she looked over the journal, awe in her eyes. "You remind me so _much_ of her it almost hurts. And I think you'd be an amazing medic. With your chakra control and memory, I'm sure you can surpass her _and_ Tsunade."

She looked at him, awe still there, and asked a bit breathlessly, "Are you sure?"

He sat down beside her, grin still on his face. "I'm positive. I'd bet all my money and everything I have that you'd be great with medical ninjutsu and genjutsu, plus a fighting style that uses chakra control."

She thanked him with tears in her eyes, finally getting a little confidence in her abilities as a shinobi.

And looking over the journal, she realized the author must have been a _genius._ Everything was well organized and easy to understand, coming with diagrams explaining and showing what whatever she was talking about should look like. From then on, Sakura carried the journal with her wherever she went, referencing it and memorizing its contents much faster than a normal person would be able to.

She couldn't disappoint her sensei, after all.

.

.

.

Aki found Sasuke angrily punching a tree one day, quickly intercepting the boy's fist. What once was an anger session turned into a productive training session with the red-head showing the boy the flaws in his defense and stance without a word. He attacked every opening he saw, hitting the Uchiha hard enough to leave a bruise.

Sasuke had to admit, that was the most productive training session he ever had.

But all too soon, they had to return to Konoha and give their report.

Minus the quick trip, of course. Aki didn't want people knowing the status of Uzushio- _especially_ no one on the council.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hewwo, yes this is out a whole day after the last chapter, but uhh yeah. i want this out of my drafts ASAP, so here you go ig
> 
> uuhh glad you like this? why are yall still lingering around here, btw? is it the pranks?
> 
> (i bet it's the pranks)
> 
> yeah. lemme know what you think of the story so far in the comments? im really curious about what yall think, and letting me know will help me edit and write future chapters as I'll know what to avoid and what yall wanna see more of. cuz right now, this is just some strange brainchild i wrote for myself and never planned on finishing, and getting feedback would really help a) motivate me to actually write more chapters and b) know what kind of direction to steer this thing in.
> 
> uuhhhhhhhhh yeah, i think that's it? anyway, hope yall have a nice day/night, and see ya next chapter!


	9. Back in Konoha!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a little break away from plot, plus a quick peek into Aki's childhood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING!!! READ THIS!!!!  
> TRIGGER WARNING: MENTIONED/IMPLIED RAPE/NON-CON IN THIS CHAPTER. MENTIONED CHILD ABUSE. BOTH IN THE SAME SCENARIO, SO BE WARNED. PLEASE BE SAFE AND TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF

"As in my report, Zabuza and Haku are now dead, as is Gato and his hired men."

The two jonin stood lazily, Aki with an easy smile and Kakashi with his normal 'this is such a drag' look on his face. After reassuring the other adults that, _Yes, our kids are fine_ and _No, no one is suicidal,_ they were finally dismissed, walking together silently all the way to the Memorial Stone.

"My first C-rank was botched, too, y'know."

Kakashi sighed, his body sagging. "Of _course_ it was. How could it _not_ have been?"

Aki laughed- a breathless kind that was more of a light chuckle if anyone thought about it.

Which Kakashi did.

"Yeah, it's not too surprising. At least it didn't go worse. We got a nice vacation out of it, after all."

Kakashi shrugged, pretending not to be paying attention to the red-head. They stood in silence for a long while- well, Kakashi did. Aki plopped down, crossed his legs, and started meditating, soon entering Sage Mode. Kakashi took the time to really study the Uzumaki, trying to solve the puzzle that was the red-head.

_Orange_ _eye-shadow_ _. A toad sage, then. Does he know Jiraiya...? Who taught him Sage Mode? When did he learn? Uzumaki, obviously. The red hair, ramen obsession, sealing talent, and huge chakra reserves are plenty proof. Younger than me probably. Smells around 22. Can't be older than 24. Great with kids. Sees potential in everything. Fighting style is a mix of Hyuga,_ _Gai's_ _, mine, Uchiha, and Tsunade. Has he met some of these people before? No, no one said anything about knowing him and Gai would share about how youthful he is. Heavy losses. Hasn't said much about himself._

Then a terrifying thought struck Kakashi, but one he couldn't just throw away. _How strong_ is _he, really? What are his limits?_

He looked at the red-head, curiosity burning in his eyes.

"You can just ask, y'know."

_Right. Sages have better sensing. Plus he's an Uzumaki. A terrifying combination for anyone trying to sneak up on him, but can he seriously sense emotions?_

"I'm curious."

Aki snorted, opening an eye. "No dur. If it's about me, I'll answer what I can. Anything else, I can only guess on."

Kakashi nodded, blurting out his most recent question. "Can you sense emotions?"

Aki snorted but nodded all the same. "It's an Uzumaki thing, but Sage Mode expands that range." One of his eyes opened, normally violet turned yellow with a horizontal pupil and looking over at Kakashi. "But we both know there's another question you're dying to ask." The eye closed once more, and Kakashi had to pause.

_Am I that easy to read...? Or is it just him?_

Instead of the thousands of questions burning in his mind, Kakashi asked, "What was your family like?" 

**[THIS IS WHERE THE WARNINGS COME INTO PLAY!!! START SKIPPING HERE]**

Aki shrugged, opening his eyes and looking straight at Kakashi. "I was an orphan. A major disaster happened on my birthday, killing my parents and a _lot_ of the villagers. I never knew any family. People blamed me, mistaking _me_ as the thing that harmed their loved ones." Kakashi caught his breath, realizing the similarity to Naruto. _What were the odds...? Maybe he should ask Shikaku about the chances..._

"That's... horrible."

Aki shrugged and smiled ( _it doesn't look like it belongs there, that's not a smile that's acceptance-)_ , letting a hand rub the back of his neck. "I get it. They needed something physical to get their grief out on. I was the perfect target. Sure, it hurt, and I'm ridiculously lucky I don't really scar outside of life-and-death injuries, but I don't blame them. Not for their emotions. I've lost my cool and senses to rage before. Quite a few times, actually. I've hurt people I cared about..." Aki looked down, his eyes seeing something that wasn't there. "But it's okay now. I'm doing... _better_... And it doesn't really matter anymore." Kakashi only looked at the Uzumaki, barely keeping his calm.

"Didn't anyone help you?"

Aki blinked at the man, smile fading. "No..." He only had time to blink before the Hatake was in his face, expression demanding explanation. So Aki sighed and rubbed his neck. "The hospital staff blamed me, too. Any doctors or nurses that helped me got hell from everyone else, so... Sometimes the shadows that followed me helped when someone got a bit... _too_ physical, but the mental and verbal injuries ran deeper. There was an.... _event_ on my birthday..." Aki leaned back, scooting a bit and curling his knees to his chest, his arms folding over them and Sage Mode fading.

"An event?"

Kakashi squatted in front of the red-head, a hard expression on his face as Aki nodded. "A kind of... 'retribution for what I did', they called it. Chased me through the village and if they caught me...." Aki shivered, phantom burns running over his back and thighs along with... _other_ pains he wouldn't think about.

**[OK, IT'S OVER HERE. PLEASE BE SAFE, WATCH YOUR MENTAL HEALTH]**

An awkward and shaky smile wormed its way onto his face. "Well, I'm just... _really_ glad I heal fast and don't scar." Aki shook his head as Kakashi's veins filled with rage he hasn't felt since... Well, _ever._ Who would but such a kind soul?

 _Someone with a death wish,_ the impulsive part of his mind whispered. And for once, he had to agree. 

"They're idiots," he said, though he knew it wouldn't help much.

But Aki smiled, grateful for the attempt. He let out a deep breath, relaxing his limbs and laying down on the grass. "Yeah. Thanks." Kakashi nodded from his place next to the Uzumaki, watching the man slowly relax into the ground.

.

.

.

"Yuki? Darling snowflake? Wonderful daughter and best Uzumaki in the universe?"

She didn't look at the oldest Uzumaki, paying more attention to the pan in front of her. "Yeah?"

" _Please_ tell me you didn't use it."

"I didn't _use_ it. _I_ may not."

He paled at the implications, mind whirring through thousands of different scenarios.

Yuki, meanwhile, was internally cackling as she hadn't done anything but asked her friends to play along. She wasn't a moron, but she wouldn't give up the opportunity to make her eldest brother/father-figure earn gray hairs just _that_ much faster.

Oh, the rascals.

.

.

.

_Lee wasn't in a good mental place after Gai died, sacrificing himself early in the war._

_Lee didn't give in, though. Always looking to do him proud and to keep his_ _nindo_ _alive. He kept a smile on his face, always doing his best and trying his hardest to save as many people as he could. That was his priority- to save, instead of to destroy the enemy. Lee seemed to realize that there wasn't any point to winning the war if there wasn't anyone left to rebuild, to move on and prevent another war of that size._

_Naruto had to give him props for that. He didn't know what he'd do if his sensei died fighting the same enemy he had to fight for_ _who-knows-how-long_ _._

_Except when it happened._

_It took a solid 5 years of constant war and battles, of late nights and night terrors and panic attacks and death and loss and crushed hope, but it happened._

_Kakashi's death hit him the most, probably because that's when he realized he would go alone. He'd be alone when facing all too familiar faces. Alone when his nightmares set in, when his thoughts got too loud but the people who could silence them made him panic. When he needed someone **there** who understood- who wouldn't need to ask questions because they saw what he went through._

_No more waking up in the middle of the night, another human already beside you and ready to help. Kakashi and Sasuke were there for him, and he, them._

_He'd suffer alone, trying to differentiate from_ **_his_ ** _precious people and his other self's. He'd be alone when he needed someone the most, just like in his childhood. Alone when he spiraled, when even Kurama couldn't save him from himself._

_That thought alone nearly paralyzed him in fear and dread. Having to experience anything like his childhood again..._

_That may break him. He just hoped he kept his adult body and skills. He didn't have the time to retrain and pretend to be his old self, or to go to T &I because of his abrupt change in personality. _

.

.

.

The waves always calmed him, the rhythm calling to his very soul and washing the pain away for a while. Soothed his blood, his mind, his heart, his very _soul_.

But he wasn't _at_ the beach. Couldn't hear the waves crashing against the shore, the gulls calling to the wind.

He was on the roof of the Uzumaki compound, staring into the sky and trying to imagine the waves crashing, Naruto back asleep and in bed. Aki sighed, letting his head dangle between his knees and his arms relax. "Guess it's harder than that..."

He sensed the Hatake long before he heard the man, too tired to raise his head. "Hey, Kashi."

The Hatake hummed in acknowledgment, plopping down beside Aki. "Shouldn't you be asleep," the Uzumaki asked.

"Shouldn't _you?"_

He sighed, a small chuckle escaping his lips. "Fair enough."

For a while they sat in silence, Aki with his eyes closed and head down and Kakashi watching the world go by. "Do you always have trouble sleeping?"

Aki peeked at the man beside him, dark circles under his eyes partially hidden thanks to the night. "It's not... usually this bad," he eventually settled on. "But tonight was just.... a bit too recent. A bit too real, too..."

Kakashi nodded, still looking at the sky. "Some of them are like that. When a small voice in your head says it's not real, but it _feels_ real and you can't remember how it ends."

Aki nodded, running his hand through his long hair, pulling some of the strands out of the braid. He sighed, letting his shoulders relax with the reassurance that he wasn't alone.

For now, at least.

But the 'for now' was good enough. It was sure enough to calm him, enough to let his guard down.

There they sat, on the roof of the house, Aki starting to doze off.

Kakashi nearly jumped when a weight fell on his shoulder, quickly looking and seeing a sleeping Uzumaki. _When'd_ _we get so close?_

But of course, he couldn't move. He knew the pet rule, having fallen asleep with his pack and vice versa. _Did that mean Aki is a pet?_

 _..._ Let's not think about **that**.

But Kakashi also knew humans don't like cold. And it was starting to get chilly at night, a particularly cold breeze solidifying his point. So he had a few options.

A) Stay still and risk both of them getting sick while Aki slept. Maybe cause him to get a neck crick.

B) Leave Aki alone on the roof and go back to bed.

C) Summon the pack and make a dog pile for warmth. (And so Kakashi's dogs meet the Uzumaki and he can grab something with his scent, just in case.)

D) Carry the Uzumaki to bed and leave like a respectable human being.

E) Carry Aki to bed, but stay.

F) An unholy combination of a few of these.

Kakashi wouldn't leave Aki alone like that, especially not after a nightmare. So B and D were out. He didn't wanna get sick or on any of the Uzumaki's bad sides, so A was out.

Now it was between C and E.

..............

He chose C _and_ E, like a mad lad.

So he first lifted the Uzumaki up, following the scents around the house to find his room specifically.

It wasn't specially decorated, Kakashi noticed when he found the open door. There were blades lying around- fancy ones with seals in them- and sealing supplies on the desk in the corner, pages and pages overflowing onto the chair and floor. The bed was pushed against one wall, despite the huge size of the room and the queen-size bed. Seals faintly glowed blue from all over the room- barrier, silencing, and chakra suppression from what little Kakashi could read. A black box sat open on the dresser, filled with different earrings, nose rings, belly button rings, and- _are those for tongue_ _piercings_ _? What are some of those others...?_

(Yes. Yes they are.)

Luckily, both of them were in comfier clothes, so Kakashi just placed the Uzumaki on the bed, swiftly summoning his pack afterward. "Yo, Boss. What is it?"

Kakashi was inwardly thankful for how well Pakkun could read an atmosphere. In a whisper, he replied. "He has nightmares. Probably to do with losing people. I'm thinking sleepover."

That's all it took before the entire pack was laying around the edges of the bed, waiting for Kakashi to join them so they could pile on the humans.

Carefully, the Hatake crawled over the Uzumaki, taking the side closer to the wall. When he was settled, the pack closed in, surrounding the men with warmth, comfort, and fur.

.

.

Aki yawned, rubbing his eyes and sensing around, nearly freezing at the feel of several chakra signatures surrounding him.

But he recognized Kakashi and his pack and relaxed almost immediately, looking at where they were. He chose to focus on the pack first, for reasons to be explained. Pakkun was on the pillow behind Kakashi, curled up with his back barely touching the Hatake's head. Bull was right behind the other man, by his legs and slightly laying on him. Guruko was over Aki's legs, still asleep and snoring softly. Ūhei was directly behind the Uzumaki, laying right against his back. Akino lay near Bull at the foot of the bed, glasses slightly askew. The rest lay behind Kakashi, taking up the unused bed-space.

Kakashi had his arms wrapped around Aki, keeping the younger in place by pack rules.

 _His_ Kakashi explained pack rules back in the war, after getting caught with his pack piled on top of him sometime during the night.

_"Never move unless it's a life or death emergency," he said, deadly serious. "Moving before everyone's awake means you're in enemy territory about to be discovered and/or killed. That's how we've trained."_

Aki sighed, enjoying the warmth but wondering how he got there. With barely a pulse of chakra, a shadow clone poofed to life at the other end of the room, saluting the original and leaving to take care of his duties. After a thought, he created another and disguised it as Kakashi, so at least _something_ would get done.

He mentally shrugged, closing his eyes once more.

_What're a few more hours of sleep? I need to catch up a bit, anyway._

.

.

Kakashi grinned under the mask, Operation Get Aki Asleep a success. His pack was still asleep, and it seems like Aki went _back_ to sleep. Much more relaxed than the first time, Kakashi noticed. During the night, when the Uzumaki first fell asleep, he was silent and tense in a way that said prolonged sleep in enemy territory. The second time?

Light snores escaped the Uzumaki, limbs much more relaxed and willing to seek out warmth.

AKA, Kakashi himself.

Within two minutes of the red-head falling truly unconscious, his arms were wrapped around Kakashi's torso, slowly snaking under his shirt in search of warmth. His legs were all tangled in Kakashi's, toes pressed into the Hatake's calves. Basically, his entire body was pressed against Kakashi's, probably looking for comfort.

Kakashi knew the Uzumaki was a touchy-feely kind of person- he knew the signs from Naruto, Gai, and Kushina well enough- but he's seen the others truly sleep a few times. Enough to know they weren't _this_ clingy in their sleep.

_Who kept him from physical interaction? How long has it been since he was able to fully relax? How long since he felt comfortable and safe in another person's hold?_

Kakashi vowed that he'd help the Uzumaki relax and heal, even if that meant healing himself first.

....

_Hopefully, it doesn't. I don't wanna go to therapy._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ive decided to post twice a week for a bit, if not more often. of course, this is up to change, but if all goes well then twice a week it is, with some extra chapters sprinkled in here and there :3
> 
> thank you so much for your support so far! it really means a lot, and im glad yall are liking this so much!!
> 
> as always, hope you have a nice day/night, and hopefully see you next chapter ^^


	10. Chunin Exams!!!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The start of the chunin exams! (yes theres a part 2)

_They're much stronger than we were. Not to mention they're all friends now and their teamwork is through the roof. Sakura is an amazing medic and sparring with the boys really stepped her taijutsu game way up. She's even started figuring out Tsunade's techniques on_ _her_ _own. Sasuke is way_ _friendlier-_ _well, to Team 7 and people he knows. He doesn't carry much hate in his heart anymore and he's much stronger because of it. And Naruto is leagues ahead of where I was, probably thanks to proper training and food for a longer amount of time. I think they should take the exams._

_**But Orochimaru.** _

_He had trouble with us before. Imagine his surprise at them now._

_**It wouldn't hurt to have backup plans. A way to intervene just in case. And a way to reach Sasuke if he gets the Curse Mark.** _

Aki sighed, nodding his head outwardly and gaining quite a few strange looks. He ignored them, instead flashing right to Kakashi just as the jonin neared Hokage Tower. With a grin, Aki waved. "Hey, Kashi. Are we registering the kids for the exams?"

"Those little monsters will make us proud."

Aki grinned, nodding easily. "Also, sign me up as a Procter for the second phase?"

Kakashi spared a ' _why_?' look towards the Uzumaki before nodding. "Great! I'm gonna go find the brats and let them know. Ja ne!"

He flickered to the tree Gaara and Sasuke sat in, each of the kids unaware of the other people in the tree. He watched Sasuke's 'cool' entrance, but before Gaara's entrance, he made several shadow-clones- enough for a small crowd- and transformed them into random, forgettable people. They stared, whispering and pointing as Gaara made his presence known.

He watched the exchange with fondness in his heart, flickering in front of his team just as the Sand turned around.

He didn't miss the way Gaara tensed, whirling around faster than he ever saw the child do so. " _Who are you."_

If he didn't know better, he'd think Gaara looked like a cornered animal. As it was, he knew the look he got was Gaara for ' _Y_ _ou_ _are my next prey. Run_.'

He grinned, looking over his shoulder and allowing a little bit of his chakra to leak out, enough to make Shukaku pause. He let his features warp thanks to Kurama, letting a genjutsu keep anyone else from noticing. " _ **Out of your league,"**_ he said, Kurama's voice mixing with his own and genjutsu keeping anyone from noticing. " _ **My name is Aki Uzumaki, and these are my kits. We'll see you in the Chunin exams**_."

With that, he let everything fade and turned back to his kits, a smile still on his face.

"Why were you looking for us, anyway, Aki-nii?

The red-head looked back at the smaller Uzumaki, thoughtful look on his face. "Now what was it...?" He shrugged, smile playing on his lips. "It couldn't have been too important, so... Who wants ramen?"  
.

.  
"I'm sure Aki already told you you've been recommended to take part in the Chunin exams-"

Glares from three different kids found the Uzumaki, a pointed voice saying, "No, he didn't."

The Uzumaki in question, however, only snapped, light returning to his face. "So _that's_ what I was doing!"

Team 7, minus Kakashi, sweatdropped, falling to the floor comically. " _How could you forget?!"_

Aki only laughed, hand rubbing the back of his neck. "Oops?"

That didn't save him from the full-force glares sent his way, making his spine crawl with his sins.  
.

.  
He immediately knew when Orochimaru entered the village about 2 weeks before the exams. _Should_ he have told someone? Probably.

 _Did_ he?

..... No. No he didn't.

He didn't want the snake Sanin interested in him- at least not this early. Aki knew the Sanin would want to know all about how he knew the future, and there just _wasn't_ any way to avoid his questioning.

 _Nothing_ came between Orochimaru and his passion for learning. Especially when the subject can be tied to immortality somehow. And Aki just didn't wanna deal with it for now.

He _did,_ however, give Naruto a Hirashin seal and a seal that would tell Aki if his younger self encountered Orochimaru, just in case. All this without telling the younger Uzumaki.

The seals were in his clothes, hidden right on top of the Uzumaki spiral on his back.

He just hoped he wouldn't have to use it. But, knowing their luck...

He didn't count on it.

.

.

Naruto didn't know what was happening. One moment, his team is alone with a strange shinobi who _swallowed_ the other scroll whole. The next, he sensed Aki nearby, tenseness and alertness _radiating_ off the Uzumaki in waves. _Why is Aki-_ _nii_ _here? Is he a Procter? Why's he in the forest?_

He didn't have time to think about those, however, as Sasuke attacked.

 _Millimeters_ before Orochimaru's fangs reached Sasuke, a foot connected with the Sanin's face, driving the snake away and back to his nearly-defeated body. Aki stood protectively in front of his team, never taking his eyes off Orochimaru. "Is anyone hurt?"

"Aki-sensei!"

"Aki-nii!"

"I'll take that as a 'no'," the red-head said, clone popping to life and checking over the kits. "You guys get out of here. I'll take care of the snake."

They didn't waste any time, running as far away as possible with the clone. Meanwhile, Orochimaru hadn't stopped smiling, curiosity shining through brightly.

"Who, pray tell, are _you_?"

Aki grinned, gathering chakra just beneath his skin. "You've probably guessed. My hair is a giveaway, and my kits said my name."

"An Uzumaki then? Maybe a relative to Kushina-chan?" Aki shrugged, letting his stance relax.

"That's just something to look into, huh?"

.

.

"What was Aki-nii doing? He shouldn't be here!"

"Don't question it. He saved us. That snake dude was way too strong."

Sakura looked between the two boys, brows furrowed and hair in a bun. "But still... I wonder what he was doing?"

"Boss had a bad feeling," the clone that followed them said, gathering their attention. "He sensed a chakra he didn't trust, and as an assistant for this portion, decided to make sure everyone was safe from threats outside the exam. If he gets beat and the snake comes after you again, it's my job to help. But if an applicant attacks, you're on your own."

"That's fair. C'mon, let's get away from that creep."

.

.

Neither Orochimaru nor Aki moved for a while, kids getting farther and farther away. A blank look settled on the red-heads face while Orochimaru gave a smile. "How did you find me?"

Aki blinked, kunai in his hands. "I'm a sensor," he decided to say, thinking it wasn't too much of a big deal. Orochimaru, meanwhile, blinked, eyes slightly narrowing.

"Oh?"

 _Crap._ He knew the look in the Sanin's eyes, very well, actually. It was the same look he had whenever he got on Madara's tail, figuring out where the Uchiha was.

Believe it or not, Orochimaru was paramount in the war. Without his help, Aki doubt he'd be alive at this moment. And as the 7th Hokage, he spent a lot of time with Orochimaru along with Shikamaru and Sasuke- the head strategist because of course, and Sasuke because he knew the snake best.

Aki knew the spark of curiosity and genius behind Orochimaru's eyes.

"A sensor isn't common around here."

Aki shrugged, still tense and watching Orochimaru like a hawk. "Most Uzumaki are sensors. Or at least chakra-sensitive."

Orochimaru cocked his head to the side, his grin stretching wider. "Oh?"

Aki shrugged, blinked, and suddenly relaxed, coming up from his stance with a grin. At the redhead's sudden change in demeanor, Orochimaru frowned.

Sensing the wariness, Aki explained, a smile still on his face. "It seems the children are taken care of." He was referring to the poor genin in the surrounding area- where he thought their fight may lead eventually. So he put on airs until the area cleared. Twirling a kunai in one hand, Aki stuffed the other hand into a pocket, the picture of at ease.

"Shall we start, then?"

.

.

Something had Aki on edge. He hid it well, of course, but he didn't know what exactly it was. 

Not until he saw a flash of red. 

His mind shut off- _Yuki. In danger, again, must protect her-_ and he simply _moved._ A flicker of chakra created a clone, and Aki left the fight to the newly-created clone. No more playing around.

He flickered to the red, scooped them up easily, and flickered a ways away, all within the span of a breath. Once he knew Orochimaru wouldn't follow for a while, he released the breath he was holding and set the shaking child down. It was only then he realized it was Karin- not Yuki.

Before he could get a word out, she peered into his eyes. "You don't have chakra? How?"

Aki blinked before chuckling. "That's just my seals." He allowed a thin layer of chakra to escape, noting how she immediately relaxed. "You're a very good sensor. An Uzumaki, maybe?"

She tensed again. "How did you..."

Aki let a small smile appear, kneeling to be eye-level with the child. "Because I am, too."

.

.

When she explained how she lost her teammates, Aki nodded. "You need your teammates in order to move on. Do you think you can find each other?" When he saw her hesitation, he added, " _Honestly_?" After a moment, she shook her head. 

"I... I don't want them to find me."

Aki nodded in understanding. "They won't ever have to find you again," he promised, the memories of a recently-crushed clone filling into his head.

A clone from Uzushio. The place wasn't _done,_ by any means, but it was livable. Enough so to have a leader and citizens. 

Enough so for Uzushio to have claim to Karin, and any other Uzumaki in danger.

Aki smiled. "Karin Uzumaki, you hereby fail this year's chunin exams," Aki stated. "Now, do you wanna see where you could live?"

.

.

Orochimaru now knew he couldn't hang on much longer. He wasn't prepared, the kids from earlier dealt more damage than he thought, and this unknown Uzumaki was stronger than he thought, and he got the feeling the young man was holding back. He didn't have much chakra left, and by the feral grin on Aki's face, the annoying red-head knew it too.

_Damn sensors._

He kept his composure, though, smile still in place despite the sheen of sweat and shorter breaths. He was at a disadvantage and hadn't even accomplished his goal.

He mentally cursed, eyes narrowing in anger. Meanwhile, the Uzumaki didn't show any signs of tiredness.

In their fight, they had destroyed a good portion of the forest- the destruction mostly because of the Uzumaki. Beyond that, Orochimaru was _pissed._ Who fills _explosive tags_ with _**glitter**?_

A madman prankster, that's who.

But what **really** got under Orochimaru's skin was that the Uzumaki treated their fight as a game, laughing and seemingly having _fun_ with it. He was a Sanin, for Kami's sake! Feared and respected through the Elemental Nations and whispered about everywhere!

The thing that... _surprised_ Orochimaru the most, made him pause and really think about it, was how much... _fun_ he was having. He was interested and curious about everything regarding the Uzumaki before him, yes, but he was also having the most fun he's had in years.

That reaction alone would've piqued his curiosity, but coupled with the mysterious abilities of the man, his strange mind, and sealing abilities?

He was seriously considering giving a Curse Mark to the red-head and chasing after the Uchiha while he was incapacitated. Even if he couldn't reach Sasuke, he'd still get a wonderful new body.

But how to manipulate him?

"What makes you tick," Orochimaru murmured, barely audible if you stood right in front of him in a silent room.

"Ramen, foxes, and pranks, for the most part," Aki responded, finding the fight unfair.

Shock and surprise flooded through Orochimaru. _Advanced hearing?_

He didn't get a chance to think about it anymore as Aki grinned and stood up, relaxed once more. That fact alone had Orochimaru tensing up. At least until the red-head spoke. "Ja ne!"

He disappeared in a puff of smoke, and Orochimaru's face scowled for the first time in years, if not decades. The only reason Aki would leave was if the Uchiha was safe from him for sure. Just to be safe, he spread his senses, searching for the tag he placed on Sasuke's chakra for easier location, and- _yep._ Sasuke was in the tower, surrounded by high-level shinobi and- Orochimaru shuddered at his next thought, from fear or excitement no one knew- Aki Uzumaki.

_Interesting._

_._

_._

Aki smiled at his kits, happy things changed from his timeline.

_They got here faster and didn't have to worry about Orochimaru. And I found Karin._

**_But now the_** **_snake_ ** _**has eyes on you. No doubt, he won't rest until he knows more about you. I don't think your flimsy cover story can handle** _ _**Orochimaru's** _ _**curiosity.** _

Aki shrugged, mentally frowning in thought. _A small price to pay. Besides, I can handle myself against any of the Sanin and Kage. Especially before the war._

Aki heard a mental snort but didn't think much more about it as his kits realized his presence on their couch, immediately running over and asking questions. He held up a hand with a grin. "Slow down! One at a time!"

Naruto started, eyes blazing with questions. "Who was that creepy snake guy?"

"Orochimaru," Aki said, leaning against the back of the couch. "He's one of the Sanin- a group of super-strong, legendary ninja from the Third War. He strives for knowledge over all else, and won't stop until he finds all the answers he's looking for."

"What did he want with me?"

Aki looked at Sasuke, a sad frown on his face. "To use you," he said softly. "To make you his tool and take over your very body once you grew strong enough. He longs for your eyes, especially after he failed in getting your brother."

Sasuke's eyes hardened, but he sat quietly.

"What were you doing there," Sakura asked, her head tilted. "I mean, you weren't supposed to help us no matter what during the exam."

Aki rubbed his neck, grinning. "Have I ever told you how I'm a sensor?" At their nods, he continued. "Well, when he dropped the act, his massive KI and chakra basically lit up. A Kage-level shinobi against genin? That didn't seem fair, and it wasn't the purpose of the Exam. Since he isn't a genin, it was my job to ensure he didn't harm anyone actually _taking_ the exams." After a second of thought, he amended his statement. "Anyone _else."_

The children nodded, accepting his excuse as fact. He quickly answered all their other questions, then advised them to rest before leaving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here it is!!! the start of the chunin exams!!!
> 
> of course im not gonna leave yall on a cliffhanger for long, so expect part two out soon. like, within the next 16 ish hours?
> 
> ALSO ALSO ALSO!!! if you havent seen the edited version of last poll chapter thing, please take a look! i encountered another possible way the story could go, and wanted to get yalls opinion of it (because its a huge plot turning thing, and id rather yall get a say in something so big). and if you completely skipped that poll thing, then heres what ya missed:
> 
> I'm gonna publish a story where Aki ends up around the Kanabi Bridge mission instead of right before little Naruto's graduation exam. (after editing it and adding a few more chapters, of course). its prolly gonna be more serious than this one, as 1, thats my mindset right now. 2, aki knows what changes he's making, knows the most likely outcome of those actions. He knows the people around him, and he knows the major points in history as he literally either created them or took part in them. That's not the case when he's put back in kakashi's time- no one in aki's time was willing to talk about that particular point in history, and the only time someone did was the crash course aki got when first developing the seal (just in case he ended up there). He got a crash course from orochimaru, kakashi, the revived hokage, and kurama, but since it was all at once and several years ago at this point, aki doesn't really remember it too well. 3, the stakes are a lot higher. in this story, all the dominoes are falling at once, so most (if not every) change aki makes is for the better. but in kakashi's time, the pieces are still getting placed and the rules of the game are still debated. every action has a bigger impact, and aki knows that. there's a much higher chance of aki making things worse than better. For example, if he saves obito, zetsu and madara might just take someone else (who might end up more powerful than obito did, as unlikely as that seems.)
> 
> so if you like the characterization of this, but don't like how light-hearted it is, then this new story might be more up your alley. plus theres bby kashi, minato, and kushina (plus possible Jinchuriki!Rin, but that's determined from the poll so-)
> 
> anyway, maybe check it out if you have the time? and as always, have a happy day/night, and i hope to see yall next chapter!!


	11. Chunin Exams!!!!.... Again?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of the chunin exams!! lets goooooo

Karin had failed two days into the exam, meaning Aki had three to show her around Uzushio. Well, three for a clone to do so, as Aki needed to take care of a few behind-the-scenes things back in Konoha.

But her reaction to Uzushio's shore was much the same as Aki's own. Instant relaxation, plus curiosity, awe, and wonder.

And a bone-deep longing for something that was on it's way to being back.

Aki smiled, glad to have brought one more Uzumaki home.

"Ready to see the city?"

The look she gave him filled Aki with the determination to make her an Uzu citizen, no matter how hard Kumo fought for her.

.

.

Aki stood proud in the Hokage's office, his Uzushio headband around his forehead and Konoha's around his throat. "Uzushio is in a state to accept citizens," he started, determination in his eyes. "As the only legal adult over 20 in the clan at this time, I have been put in a temporary position of power."

Hiruzen nodded. "I see."

Aki nodded. "Though that title holds little power now, as our clan is still quite small. However, it has come to my attention that Kumo has been abusing an Uzumaki, and worked one to death by _chakra exhaustion."_

His rage was barely subdued, and Hiruzen could see it. "That is unfortunate. However, there isn't much we can do without causing an international incident. Something on the same scale as the Hyuga affair, if not larger."

Aki, a gleam of determination and wisdom beyond his years in his eye, smiled- the smile of a hunter who knew he already won. "I have a plan for that."

.

.

The plan, in reality, was quite simple. Aki, as head of the reviving Uzumaki clan, had the backing of Konoha, the Uzumaki, and quite a few ancient clan laws. All three of which made it very illegal for Kumo to keep Karin without starting up a war. And while, under normal circumstances, Kumogakure wouldn't be _averse_ to war, Aki was able to change their minds.

How?

A quick and easy 'talk' with the Kumo representative behind closed doors. Only Aki went into the room from Konoha's side, and only Aki was aware of what really went down. And he'd keep it that way until the end of time. And if anyone tried to pry it from his memories?

... Well, he had a giant, fiercely protective, 9-tailed fox who wasn't afraid to kill or mentally scar a few humans for his kit.

.

.

The preliminary round quickly passed, Team 7 easily taking down their opponents while Kakashi and Aki explained tactics, jutsu, and abilities to those who would listen. Kabuto still dropped out, so the competitors moving on ended up looking like:

Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Shino, Shikamaru, Neji, and Dosu.

Like Aki's exam, except Sakura made it.

The match-ups were Naruto and Neji, Gaara and Sasuke, Sakura and Dosu, Shino and Kankuro, and Temari against Shikamaru.

For the month, Kakashi took Sasuke for training while Ebisu took Naruto and Aki took Sakura and Karin. He trained Sakura's taijutsu more than anything, tripling her speed with Gai's help. He started teaching the two of them the basics in sealing, just enough for explosion and barrier seals. He taught them specialized jutsu for their respective natures and let Sakura test some of her poisons and medical ninjutsu on him.

By the time the month was up, Aki feared for whoever has the misfortune of being Sakura's opponents, and Yuki was more than acquainted with her new sister.

About a week before the event, Aki was called into the Hokage's office from an abrupt summons. He flickered into the office, standing with an easy air about him and an eyebrow raised at the old man before him. "What's up, Jiji?"

The man smiled and stood, walking in front of his desk, stopping right in front of the Uzumaki. "As you no doubt know, I'm allowed two guards in the Kage box."

Aki nodded, leaning on one leg. "If you need suggestions or something-"

"I want you as one of my guards," Hiruzen interjected, judging Aki's reaction.

The Uzumaki in question looked at the old man in shock before dumbly pointing to himself. " _Me?"_

Hiruzen nodded, a serious look on his face. "I trust you more than anyone to keep me safe and to protect the village should something happen." After a moment of thought, he spoke again. " _Is_ there anything I should know?"

Aki, for the first time since he took his first life, hesitated.

"Yes."

He explained what he remembered of the Chunin Exams from his time- which, admittedly, wasn't much. He remembered the genjutsu, Gaara going berserk, the fear and pain he felt everywhere, the following funeral. When Hiruzen asked what became because of his death, Aki explained what Tsunade later told him. About why Orochimaru approached her around the same time he and Jiraiya did.

The Hokage still wanted Aki as a bodyguard. And who was he to refuse an order from his kage?

.

.

"I'll be watching your matches, but I'll be up there," Aki said, pointing to the Kage box. "Lord Third asked me to guard the Kage, so that's where I'll be. Any questions?"

"Nope."

Aki nodded, smiled at the children, and pat their heads, messing up their hair. "No matter what, I'm proud of you. I'm sure you'll all kick ass out there. Remember to watch out for Yuki. Keep an eye on her when you're not fighting. And be nice to Karin- she's still getting the hang of how we work around here."

Aki didn't once glance at Orochimaru disguised as the Kazikage, standing behind Hiruzen with a fox mask over his face and ANBU uniform masking most of his identity. (He was lucky enough to have already had the tattoo, as he was ANBU before becoming Hokage. In his humble opinion, Aki thought most Kage should spend at least a month in each rank, so they knew the true inner workings of those ranks and what could be helped.) But since he didn't care who knew who he was, he kept his red hair out for all to see. With Kurama's help, he could _feel_ every emotion in the stadium, including the satisfaction coming from Orochimaru.

It kinda creeped him out, but there wasn't any reason to worry.

At least not yet.

So, he watched the fights, noting how Dosu was still alive and Sasuke and Kakashi were still late. He mentally sighed, shifting his thoughts inward as Naruto started against Neji.

_They're late._

_**It's Kakashi. What did you expect?** _

_..... I'm kinda bored._

_**Suck it up. You're the one who took this mission in the first place.** _

_But..... I'm so_ _booooooooooored_ _..._

_**Why don't you watch the matches?** _

_... Then I'll miss my Neji, and my Konoha and... And I won't be able to stop spiraling._

_**....** _

_Besides, I don't wanna take this away from Naruto. He deserves every chance to make friends that he can get._

_**Yeah... Meanwhile, I'm going to make myself productive. It's been a long enough nap.** _

_Oh? What are you doing?_

_**I'm going to contact my siblings and warn them about the Akatsuki. If any of them have decent relationships with their kits, they'll work with their humans and save themselves.** _

_That'll be a huge help during the war if we can't prevent it._

_**Yeah. Next time, I'll bring you along. If we're lucky, they'll remember you- at least in bits and pieces.** _

Aki mentally nodded, sensing Sakura enter the ring. He grinned, excited for the next match.

It wasn't so much a match than a pummeling. In Sakura's favor, of course. She quickly figured out Dosu's trick with sound waves, countering it with her perfect chakra control blocking her hearing and repairing all damage done. With that out of the way, Dosu was a pitifully weak opponent for her. Did he _really_ underestimate an opponent...? Specifically one of Aki's kits?

Sasuke still wasn't there, so his match was postponed. The rest went according to how Aki remembered- Temari winning with Shikamaru's forfeit, Shino winning when Kankuro gave up, and finally, Sasuke and Kakashi made their big entrance.

As soon as he felt the genjutsu, Aki dispelled it as far as he could and set his hand on Hiruzen's shoulder, flashing them both to the roof. He stood in front of the Hokage, scythe unsealed from his forearm and leaned against his body in a position he had long since mastered.

A special, dark metal he didn't know the name of reflected the seals etched into the blade, allowing him to focus his large chakra through the weapon for anything. Seals along the handle connected the scythe to Aki's chakra, making it impossibly heavy to anyone else. A seal on the very end of the handle acted as a tether for his chakra, acting as a kind of chain of pure chakra so he'd never lose it. Seals for maintenance, location, and identification littered both the blade and the handle as well, acting also as designs.

Tenten taught him how to use and care for his scythe- _his_ Tenten, anyway- during the war. She taught everyone as many blades and weapons as possible, since a weaponless shinobi wore out much quicker and was more likely to die.

Anyway, a second later, Orochimaru appeared on the roof, talking away. Instead of listening, Aki focused on the four people surrounding them, putting up a barrier- the same one his father and other three Kage created back in the war in hopes of slowing the 10-tails down.

It didn't.

Aki knew he could easily break the barrier, but he had other priorities to accomplish first. Plus, he didn't want to out himself so soon.

When Orochimaru attacked, Aki joined the fray instead of Hiruzen, forcing the Sanin back.

Until a seal glowed beneath him- a paralysis seal, temporary and weak but enough to make him pause for a second- and suddenly, _pain_ filled his veins, starting from his collarbone to _everywhere._

He just barely didn't scream- he thinks, he's not too sure at this point- as his hand came to his shoulder and he jumped back, mind going a bit hazy with dark thoughts and pain.

He didn't register the grin Orochimaru had, nor the look of horror Hiruzen's face took, replaced with determination soon after. He didn't see the black markings expanding from his shoulder to his neck, head, and torso, nor did he sense his team through the pain.

The only things he registered? Pain and darkness.

And then he was out.

.

Kakashi was having a pretty good day. From what he's heard, his entire team's been kicking ass so far _and_ he got his dramatic entrance, just as he planned!

All that, ruined when the invasion started.

His first question when he met up with his kids? _Where's Aki?_

"Guarding Jiji!"

Kakashi paled, glancing at the purple barrier separating Aki, Hiruzen, and Orochimaru from the rest of the world.

He _especially_ didn't like how Hiruzen himself could be seen fighting his former student, plus... was that the first Hokage?

_If Aki was protecting Lord Third, he wouldn't have had to fight directly. Aki would've taken care of it. So where is he? What happened?_

.

.

When Aki next woke up, he was in the hospital, bandages around his torso, neck, and right leg. _What happened?_

**_You conked out after the snake put that evil hickey on you. I took over when it spread to your heart, and I've been keeping it at bay ever since. Unfortunately, he saw that I was up and proceeded to fight me._ **

_And by taking over my body, you took over the pain, too. It would've been impossible to fight like that._

**_It damn near was. But, somehow, the snake felt threatened by me and threw us through the entire building. We landed on some rebar, so you currently have no less than three holes straight through your body. I can't heal you as fast since I'm taking care of this damned mark._ **

_Thanks, Kurama. I'll get the seal off soon, promise_.

He only heard an annoyed huff from his tenant, quickly silencing when a few people entered the room.

Aki smiled, sitting up easily. "It's good to see you guys."

Before him was his team, Naruto getting beside his bed in an instant with the rest trailing in behind the blond. Yuki and Karin were nowhere in sight, but Aki could sense them at the compound. He was just glad they seemed to be safe and relatively unharmed. "Aki-nii, don't scare us like that!"

The red-head smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Right, right... Are any of you hurt?"

After confirming that, _no, no one was hurt_ , Aki gently ushered the kids out of the room, claiming he and Kakashi had to have 'grown-up talk'.

Once alone, Kakashi sighed and plopped down into a hospital chair, rubbing his hands over his face. He looked like he hadn't slept in months.

"Tell me, did Lord Third...?"

Kakashi nodded, staying silent as the Uzumaki wept for the old man for the third time in his life. The first was this event, the second when Jiji was completely destroyed after his summoner, Orochimaru, died. It was only thanks to a seal that any of the reanimations lived longer than Orochimaru.

Once composed, Aki took a deep breath and sat up straighter. "Anything else I should know about?"

"You have a Curse Mark," Kakashi stated solemnly. "Must have gotten it while protecting Lord Third. It's in its infancy stage, so maybe if Jiraiya hurries..."

Aki smiled, amused. "Did you forget I'm a sealing master? I can take care of it. Just need a paper and a clone."

Kakashi blinked, then nodded. "The council is asking Jiraiya to take the hat, but he's refusing. _Strongly._ He recommended Tsunade, but..." Aki's eyebrow rose in silent question. "They're nominating you."

Aki blinked but shook his head. "It's not my time. Besides, I don't want the hat, no offense to the old man. It's just... I've had enough leadership positions. The only one I'll take now is with Uzushio."

Kakashi eye-smiled. "Thought so."

Aki hummed in thought, letting his eyes close. "They could send Jiraiya and whomever he chose to track down Tsunade for the hat. She'd be an amazing Hokage."

Kakashi nodded, crossing his arms in thought. "She'd be hard to convince... But I think we both know a blond that makes a habit of changing hearts." Aki laughed easily, nodding as he did so.

"How are they," the red-head asked, concern slowly making its way in his eyes.

"Gave everyone a scare," Kakashi sighed, rubbing his face. "They went after the Sand jinchuriki with a couple of genin friends. They're not hurt enough to stay in the hospital thanks to Sakura, but they're all worried about you." Aki rubbed the back of his head, hiding a wince as he tugged on his stitches.

"Whoops."

Kakashi's eyes darkened, his face turning serious. "Don't 'whoops' _me,_ Aki. You looked dead then- rebar coming out of your body and obviously in pain even unconscious. Your chakra was leaking out, and it didn't feel _right_. You gave poor Karin a heart attack with how damaged your chakra is. Everyone's been in and out of the hospital, waiting for you to wake up. They're all exhausted." Kakashi looked and sounded angrier than Aki had ever heard the man- even from _his_ time. 

The redhead's eyes widened and he turned his gaze to his legs, covered by the hospital sheet. For a moment, silence prevailed.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Aki said after a while, looking back at Kakashi. "He caught me by surprise. It won't happen again, I promise."

As unlikely as keeping that promise would be, Kakashi nearly believed him.

.

.

Aki grinned, holding back tears and blinking rapidly. Before him was Jiraiya- his godfather.

**_Naruto's_ ** _godfather. Not mine. Not anymore._

The blond had excitedly bounded up to him, claiming he _had_ to meet Pervy Sage. How the old man was nearly as good at sealing as Aki himself. That statement caused Jiraiya's brow to raise, because as much as Naruto loved exaggerating, he never did so on abilities, as the Sanin learned the hard way. That was thanks to Aki, who claimed, _'Always be honest about your abilities. It's okay to be bad at something, but unless your allies know what it is, they can't plan and strategize around you. You'd be put in a team that can't handle you, and your teachers won't know what to help you on.'_

_Which Naruto hadn't thought about before. Of course, he then asked, 'Do you have any weaknesses, Aki-_ _nii_ _?'_

_'Yeah, but my weakness is considered a strength by anyone else.' He explained when he saw Naruto's confused look._ _'I'm_ _not perfect at everything, but every skill I have I'm at least decent in. Enough so to use in battle, but not enough where I can defeat a master using only that skill. I'm a master at some things, though, and that helps me in battle.'_

Naruto got it.

That brings us back to the present, where Aki was trying not to cry at the _very much alive_ Toad Sanin. "Pervy Sage, Aki-nii. Aki-nii, Pervy Sage."

Aki grinned, ruffling Naruto's hair to ground himself before nodding at the man. "Aki Uzumaki, at your service."

"Are you that good at sealing?"

Aki blinked but grinned. "Better, actually." He had long since gotten rid of Orochimaru's Curse Mark- by 'long since' he means earlier that week. Not even two days ago. The process took a lot of willpower, pain endurance, and chakra. Right after he recovered enough, he sought out Anko and removed hers, so at the moment, he was lower on chakra than he'd like. While he'd probably never completely run out again, he still didn't like his reserves so low.

Of course, 'low' for him was jonin level to most others.

"I'm an Uzumaki master, actually. The clan records and secrets were sealed away and I had ample time to read as much as I wanted."

Jiraiya's eyes widened a fraction, a smile growing on his face. "Mind if I take a look?"

Aki shrugged. "Sure. The only ones using it are Naruto and Yuki, anyway."

"Yuki?"

At that moment, the two Uzumaki got chills down their spine, a _terrible_ feeling crawling up their backs. They turned to each other, pure **fear** in their eyes. "Is it-"

"Time? Yes. It seems she finally had enough."

The two in the know shuddered again as Jiraiya's face took on an expression of confusion. "What's going on?"

The Uzumaki looked at each other and nodded, understanding it was far too late to keep the Sanin out of it.

"Whatever you do-"

" _Don't_ be fooled by her innocent act. She's **ruthless,** and won't _hesitate_ to toss you to the wolves."

" _Who?"_

"The little-"

A chilling, high-pitched voice called out suddenly, making the two Uzumaki actually jump out of their skins. "Oh, _Aki-_ _nii_ _,_ _Naru-_ _nii_ _,_ where are you?~"

The two paled and leaped into action, Naruto hiding behind the Sanin and Aki using an Earth jutsu to hide in the ground. Suddenly, a little red-headed girl turned the corner, around Konohamaru's age. She stopped in front of Jiraiya, innocence plastered on her face. "Have you seen my brothers?"

The Sanin blinked at the little girl, a small frown on his face. _Why were they so afraid of her?_

... He found out when, not even two days later, his hair was hot pink, all the doors in his hotel switched, all his furniture moved two centimeters to the left, and fake (sometimes real, when he got comfortable- well, _used_ to them) snakes in the corners of his house he didn't know existed. All of his seals were tampered with, making explosion seals spit out glitter and storage seals explode. His salt was in the sugar place and vice versa, the pepper was replaced with ghost pepper flakes ( _how_ he didn't know) and, to top it all off, every door he walked through landed chalk dust in his hair.

All with a signature from a singular Yuki Uzumaki.

Now he knew of the Prank Wars, and he'd _never_ be caught off guard _again_.

Aki opened the door to find a disgruntled and hot pink Jiraiya at his door, a serious look on his face. He only nodded sagely, letting a hand fall onto the Sanin's shoulder. "Prank War. We ask your alliance against the devil known as Yuki Uzumaki."

"I was about to say the same thing."

It was only an hour later, after many preparations for the new War, did Jiraiya explain his original mission by seeking out the Uzumaki. He wanted to take Naruto to find Tsunade, adding Aki to further their battle plans while abroad.

By the next hour, the three ninja were hot on Tsunade's trail, leaving only a note to the two female Uzumaki remaining at the compound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heeerrrreeeeeee it is!! not long of a cliff hanger, now was it ;3
> 
> a bit more of orochimaru, a bit of jiraiya, more of karin (shes in the clan!! she gets legit screentime here!!), and the introduction to the next prank war ^^  
> (spoiler alert, glitter.)
> 
> anyway, can any of yall guess what aki's favorite weapon is?
> 
> as always, hope ya have a nice day/night and see ya next chapter!!


	12. Prank Wars and Slugs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of the Fourth Great Prank War, meeting the one and only Slug Princess, and a quick shot of our favorite Uchiha!

Yuki woke up the next morning feeling oddly.... _refreshed_. She knew what her actions meant, and the sheer scale of the current Prank War.

She could hardly contain her excitement.

After setting her pranks up and carefully going through the house, searching for any pranks set by her brothers (she didn't find any), she gleefully cackled, silently stalking to her brothers' bedrooms to wake them up. (She'd spare Karin for now- perhaps join forces with the girl to show her the ropes.)

Except, she found out the hard way, no one was in the compound except herself, only a little note left from her family.

_Naru and I finding a slug. Be gone a while. Don't destroy Konoha during our war, as always. We love you two, but when we get back it will be no-holds-barred. We have the Toad Sage. He may be easy prankings , but he gives what he gets._

_~Love, Aki_

She grinned ferociously, glad she had at least a few more days to prepare and to teach her new sister.

The more preparations, the better. Surviving through the Prank Wars is more difficult than any apocalypse anyone could ever think of- Aki had the Prank War scars to prove how close to death even an overpowered Uzumaki could get.

Both Naruto and Aki shuddered for the fourth time that morning, warning bells _screaming_ in their minds. They chose to ignore it, for now, seeing as they weren't anywhere _close_ to Konoha. They were still searching, but Aki knew they'd find Tsunade soon- especially when he's been tracking her since they left Konoha, her bright chakra easily findable to the sensor even from half a continent away.

Two days later, Aki stopped and grinned at the town's entrance. "She's here."

"Yeah...."

While Jiraiya went off to do.... _adult_ things, Aki and Naruto checked into a hotel and started unpacking- mainly putting seals everywhere. When they finished, Naruto plopped down on a bed and took out a sealing scroll Aki had given him, starting a new level of sealing.

Aki, though, stood beside the door, leaned against it casually. When a knock resounded through the room, Aki pushed off the wall. "Coming!"

He opened the door, but when faced with Itachi and Kisame, he only smiled wide. "How may I help you?"

Kisame blinked but smiled as Itachi answered. "Is there anyone else with you?"

Aki blinked and shrugged, leaning against the door frame casually. "Sometimes. They're out looking for someone right now. Oh, I'm Aki by the way."

The missing-nin blinked at the red-head before Itachi responded. "Itachi. This is my partner, Kisame."

The shark-man nodded, grin still on his face. "Yo."

When the two didn't leave, Aki shrugged again. "I mean, if you _want_ to do the whole song and fight, we _can.._. I'll take both of you on at once, too. It'll be a good workout."

The two of them _felt_ surprised, but Kisame was the only one who let it show. They looked at each other before Itachi subtly shook his head. Kisame seemed to pout before responding for his socially awkward partner. "Can't. Have a mission and all."

Aki was about to respond when he cut himself off. _Sasuke's here._ He grinned apologetically for a second, letting a clone pop into existence. "Sorry bout this."

In a single moment, Aki had grabbed both their shoulders and flashed the three of them to Amagekure, quickly jumping back as the rain poured on the three men and dodging several attacks at once. Shock easily filled Kisame's face as he took in the change in scenery. "What the-"

"Language," Aki called automatically. "Go ahead and head back home, guys. By the time you get close to us again, we'll be gone."

With that, the Uzumaki left in a red flash, leaving the two missing-nin in the rain and near the Akatsuki base. _Disturbingly_ close to the base, actually. They'd go back, except they felt their leader should know about the strange nin.

.

"Aki-nii, where'd you go? And what about the people at the door?"

"Well, there was a problem in Uzushio, so I went to figure it out. And they were just a couple of traveling nin who got the wrong room number," the red-head lied easily, taking note of the disappointed Uchiha in the room. "What is it?"

After a moment of silence, Sasuke spoke. "I heard rumors about my brother heading here."

"What were you gonna do when you found him?"

Sasuke blinked and looked down. "Tell him I forgive him."

Aki blinked, but smiled, walking over and putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "It takes a strong individual to forgive something like that. And it doesn't mean you have to _forget_ your anger, either. Now, it only means you can find the whole truth with a clear mind, and you won't be afraid to accept that truth- whatever it may be- because you're on your way to make your peace. That _doesn't_ mean forget, or that you're somehow disgracing them by forgiving, it only means you won't make decisions you'll regret heavily later."

Sasuke, while looking the smallest bit relieved, nodded, not saying anything.

"Now, shall we go meet a slug?"  
.

.

"Who the hell are you brats."

Aki grinned at the blonde Senju, waving his arms towards the boys. "This is Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki. Boys, this young lady is Tsunade Senju, granddaughter to Lord First, last Senju, epic healer, yadda yadda," he paused to shoot a shit-eating grin at the women on the other side of the booth. "And teammate of Orochimaru."

Immediately, the two boys' faces scrunched, eyes narrowing and- was that anger?

"You know that gross dude that gave Aki-nii that evil hickey?"

Shizune's eyes widened as she spit out her water comically, quickly trying to recover. Tsunade's face hardened as Aki burst out laughing, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. Still laughing, he took the hit from Tsunade, swiftly switching places with Naruto to intercept her fist. "It's not nice to hit your cousin," he said through the laughter, chuckles dying down.

"Cousin," the two blonds asked, eyeing each other.

"Tsunade, meet Kushina's son. Naruto, meet Granny Mito's granddaughter."

"'Granny'?"

Aki shrugged, turning his attention back to the woman. "She's an Uzumaki and was like a grandmother to dear old Kushina-san. She _was_ a grandmother, and she'd probably love more grandkids to teach and train. She's family- Hokage wife or no- and it'd be rude to address her as if she wasn't."

While the blonds thought about it, Aki turned to Shizune. "And the ever-responsible Shizune, the only student of Tsunade. I'm Aki."

She nodded at him, swapping pleasantries to both him and Sasuke. "I doubt you've heard about Konoha recently."

"And I don't want to. I don't care about that old place, so if that geezer wants us back, he'll have to send more than a couple of nobodies."

"He can't," Aki said, leaning forward with a serious look. "Orochimaru invaded the village, and he took many lives in his wake. Among them.... was Lord Third, who..." Aki took a breath, letting the memories fly by behind his closed eyelids. "Who was murdered by Orochimaru during the last phase of the Chunin Exams."

Silence reigned on the table when a hand came onto Aki's arm. The chakra said it was Naruto's, and Aki relaxed minutely under it.

"What. Do you _mean."_

Aki explained what he could reasonably remember from that day, letting his eyelids open and a cold distance take over his violet eyes. "Orochimaru, who had killed the Kazikage and taken his skin, used Suna to invade Konoha. His ninja created a barrier and he attacked from the Kage box. I intercepted and made a mistake."

"A _mistake."_

Aki nodded, a hand coming up to run through his red hair. "I assumed he was only after two things: Sasuke and Lord Third. I failed to predict he could have switched targets. I was taken out of the fight soon after, and the next thing I know..." He gestured to the bandages on his leg.

"You also had that bastard's Curse Mark."

Aki waved a hand dismissively at the blond who had spoken before the women could respond. "And I took care of it. Anyway, thanks to that... Konoha needs a new Kage, and Jiraiya wouldn't be it."

"Too bad. I'm not, either. That position is nothing but a curse."

That got Naruto started, and- surprisingly- Sasuke started backing him up, pointing out everything he knew about the position. Which was more than Aki expected. Because of his brother, maybe?

But this..... It was too much for the war vet, so he easily let a clone take his place as he flickered out, sitting on the roof easily. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, opening them to his mindscape a second later. Nothing had changed from the last time he visited the fox, except the older disturbances were healed while the newer ones were deep and fresh.

Kurama sat on his haunches, over twice as big as when they first met, his huge hands together and eyes closed. **"You ready to see my siblings?"**

Aki nodded, letting a tail pick him up and set him on top of the fox's head. **"Meditate. It shouldn't take long."**

A few moments later, Aki opened his eyes to see seven other animals in a circle, going from the number of tails. He guessed Isobu was still reforming, seeing as the large turtle wasn't there. Not even a second after this thought, a much smaller Kurama manifested to Aki's left, eyes narrowing at the reformed version of himself with a familiarly annoying red-head on top. He was cut off from saying anything, though, as Shukaku spoke up.

"Not _another_ useless fox!"

Kurama laughed- the older one, anyhow- and let his tails swish around lazily. **"You should say that about our host. Two rambunctious, moronic-"**

"Hey!"

**"-Uzumaki running around? The whole world will fall apart with the sheer number of pranks involved."**

Aki nodded decisively, leaping from Kurama's head to the ground in a fluid motion. "The Elemental Nations won't know what hit them among the chaos and glitter." That caused Kurama to snort, as well as the beasts with a sense of humor. "Well, let's get down to business..."

.

.

Naruto was fuming. How _dare_ that old hag disrespect the Hokage position like that! He'd show her! Learn that stupid jutsu _and_ prove his beliefs at the same time!

Sasuke, however, was thinking. Mostly about the situation in Konoha, but also about who would be a better Kage than Tsunade. Then, the thought struck him, clear as lightning. He tried ignoring it, thinking of a million excuses, but all were debunked just as quickly as he conjured them.

_Why didn't they just ask Aki to take the hat?_

"Huh? I don't know."

It was after Naruto's response Sasuke realized he spoke aloud. "Why do you ask?"

The Uchiha hummed, a thoughtful look on his face. "He's the logical choice." At Naruto's blank look, he explained. "The Hokage has to be strong enough to protect the village- either by reputation or combat. They must be smart and loyal to the village they lead. They have to be damn good at reading people, both so they can see through BS and so they can put shinobi on the most productive teams. They have to have connections or charisma in spades. The ideal Kage is someone who people flock to by choice, deciding they're the best person to follow. Someone who doesn't care for titles or money or tradition- someone who isn't afraid to change the way things are for a better future. Doesn't that sound like him?"

Naruto thought for a moment before nodding. "But his main goal is the revival of Uzushio. He can't do that if he's the Hokage, y'know."

"Which is why I think he turned down the hat. He could retire the second he finds a successor, so he could live his own life, but to completely turn the position down?"

"It sounds like something Aki-nii would do. He doesn't want the hat."

"How do you know?"

Naruto hummed, turning to the boy beside him. "He told me. He said he'd help me become the Hokage, but he would _never_ accept the hat, even if anyone tried to force it on him."

 _"I'm busy enough with_ _Uzu_ _and you two," Aki said, distracted slightly by the seal in front of him as he slouched over his desk. "Even if I was the only option, I'd turn it down."_

_"Why," Naruto asked, crossing his legs on the redhead's bed. "Isn't it the best job ever?"_

_"Well..." Aki scratched his head, turning in his chair to look at the blond. "Serving your village and comrades is the best job ever. Saving people is a close second, in my opinion. But you don't_ **_need_ ** _to be a Kage to do that. How often do you see Lord Third on the battlefield, fighting on the front lines?"_

_When Naruto didn't answer, Aki nodded. "Exactly. The Hokage protects the village in a different way, usually. By politics and giving missions and making sure no one is in over their heads by checking everything. He puts genin and older shinobi on teams where they probably won't get killed or in teams that will probably work well together. He trains the next generations so they outlive him, and so they can save each other. It's a hard job, but it's a good one."_

_Naruto nodded, taking in everything. "Then... why...?_

_"I'd rather be out there, with my precious people, and actively making sure they're alright. I'd rather have the freedom to take the hit for them, instead of cursing the fact the village needs me more, keeping me rooted to the spot as my people get hurt. Even if I fail sometimes, even if I get hurt over it, I'd rather_ **_be_ ** _there."_

_Naruto understood, probably more than he should've. His dreams came back to him, and he realized... he was glad the person he saw through was there. He didn't like the feeling of watching the people in his dreams who looked so much like people he knew die, but he was glad no one did so all alone. He knew the feeling of loneliness far too well, and he was glad no one in his dreams felt that in their last moments._

_He decided, then and there, that he'd always be there for his family, even when it pained him to do so._

"He'd never take the hat. Not willingly or in his right mind."

The sheer force behind those words had Sasuke silently agreeing, even if he didn't know the full story.

.

.

A week later, Aki silently cursed Tsunade's stubbornness and praised how quickly Kurama burned through poison. He forgot Tsunade drugged everyone, and had some of the tainted drink, only remembering about an hour later when Kurama started complaining about extra work. He stopped then, switching places with a shadow-clone and waiting where he remembered fighting Orochimaru and Kabuto right after learning the Rasengan, hidden in the nearby trees as the two Sanin and Kabuto appeared, standing across from each other. Shizune wasn't there, probably helping those who were poisoned.

Aki didn't wanna reveal himself too soon, since he knew Orochimaru would immediately realize the Curse Mark was gone. But when Tsunade froze, he couldn't help himself, throwing shuriken between her and Kabuto, who was leering over her. The traitor's head snapped up, eyes narrowing at the same time as Orochimaru's as Aki took a stand between the snake users and the Slug Princess. He twirled a kunai in one hand, a blank look on his face and his stance relaxed.

"How."

"An Uzumaki plus an untouched trove of sealing secrets equals... Well, you can do the math. Now, I'd love to settle the score, but it seems you're at a disadvantage."

The snake Sanin licked his lips, a smile taking space on his face. "I'd beg to differ. A useless burden, and the strongest moral compass in the shinobi world? I'd argue _we_ have the advantage."

Aki's blank look turned dark, eyes flashing a dangerous red for a millisecond. It was still long enough for the snake Sanin to see, bringing his growing curiosity through the roof. _Could he be a_ _jinchuriki_ _? Or have a kekkei genkai? I've never heard of an Uzumaki kekkei genkai changing the eyes, though. Maybe a new-blood?_

"Kabuto, fall back," Orochimaru hissed, already retreating from the fight, new and old wounds singing with pain.

It didn't take much more to convince Tsunade to go back to the Leaf, so the whole group went back together.

A man watched the entire thing unfold, a frown hidden by his mask. He didn't like this new player, but if he could convince him to switch sides... the plan would certainly come to fruition.

.

.

Upon returning to the village, there was hell to pay. It seemed like _everything_ was out to get the Uzumaki boys and Jiraiya.

Toothpaste replaced with wasabi. A seal on _every damn door_ that sounded a loud, annoying noise that didn't stop until you closed the door. Seals on every container, keeping the contents from coming out. Pepper where the sugar should have been. Salt where the sugar was. The pepper container was just _gone._ Of course, all hair products changed the color of the user's hair to something ridiculous. Fish tasted like chicken, chicken tasted like pork, pork like fish, and beef like _broccoli,_ of all things. None of the seasonings were left untouched- either replaced with something else, _gone_ , or sealed away. Yuki had somehow found the seal Aki used to place invisible walls everywhere and changed it slightly.

Now, when someone passed through an invisible barrier, a mixture of glitter, chalk dust, paint, feathers, and a smoke bomb exploded in the victim's face. Said barriers were placed like a maze, and Yuki somehow _also_ copied Aki's seal that cataloged chakra signatures, weaving the two together to ensure she and Karin could walk around with no trouble what-so-ever. 

... This called for _war._

Karin had made her loyalties known, siding with Yuki (although she took the least amount of pranks, as a courtesy for being new to this life). Naruto, as always, was left to his own devices, while this time Aki and Jiraiya teamed up. The first time in history an Uzumaki teamed with a non-Uzumaki, _and_ the first time Aki teamed up with anyone for a full Prank War. 

Though, both felt it was needed. 

The war only lasted about a week. But it was hell on Earth for those involved- and even simply acquaintances with the participants. Team meetings with Team 7 became a war zone, water balloons filled with _who knew what_ thrown and dispensed with every turn. Tampered seals were _just_ shy of deadly. Nowhere and no one was safe, the pranks set up everywhere from the compound to the Hokage's office (Tsunade nearly killed them when she found out) to every inn and hotel in Konoha to other clans' compounds. 

The only place free from pranks were the Memorial Stone and the graveyard, to respect the dead.

Hokage Mountain was pranked every other _hour._ The Forest of Death quickly became a minefield of seals and explosive tags. 

No one could tell who placed which pranks, but by the end of the week, every building in Konoha was a different, bright, ridiculous color (from all corners of the rainbow), every citizen flinched at even the _mention_ of glitter, the training grounds were a mess, Hokage Tower was a good shake away from being rubble, Tsunade's hair was bright orange, Jiraiya's hair was back to being hot pink (complete with glitter, feathers, and specks of paint), Naruto's hair was pitch black, all white cloth in Konoha was pink or gray, and every step released glitter or feathers from the ground or whoever was walking.

And so, the Second Glitter War finally came to a close, much to the relief of the 'Prank War civilians' (any innocent bystander) and the slight disappointment of the resident Uzumaki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok, for the future, if yall have any good prank ideas (either from real life, or that use seals), then leave a comment. they'll prolly be shown next time theres a prank scene, as im not very imaginative and had to google some pranks ;-;
> 
> anyway!! here we go!! next chapter is the fillers and extra scenes that happened but didnt have a place before that chapter!! featuring gaara, yuki, the completion of the stripping drug, sakura, a description of more of aki's tattoos, the Rescue Sasuke mission, some ship scenes with kashi, and GAI AND HIS TEAM!!! 
> 
> YOOOOOUUUUUUUTTTHHHH!!!
> 
> ..... im excited. i think yall should be excited, too. its over 4000 words long so far, and i absolutely love it. i might add a few extra scenes before posting it this weekend (such as with the naras or itachi), but i havent decided for sure yet
> 
> also!! if you dont like how little the akatsuki have been shown so far, worry not! aki has you covered after the start of shippuden ;3
> 
> as always, have a good day/night, and see you next chapter!!


	13. Fillers and Scenes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few scenes (up to right before the time skip) that 100% happened, but didn't have a place before now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is, in fact, a skippable chapter.  
> i dont recommend skipping it, though.  
> each of these excerpts are in (mostly, i think) chronological order, so ^^  
> ..... and i might not have had the will to wait till the weekend, so..... here yall go ^w^

"Thank you for coming out here, Uzumaki-san. We just have a few... _concerns_ about Yuki-chan."

Aki blinked at the Chunin instructor, looking back at Yuki's innocent face before letting a polite smile onto his face. "Yes?"

"Well, we believe she's in a... lower level of education than what she could be in. We'd like to change her classes, move her up a bit."

Aki was prepared for this. Mainly because Yuki told him what would go down earlier.

_"They'll say I'm_ _'gifted'_ _and_ _'in_ _a lower form of education' or some other crap. In_ _actuality_ _, they want me to be someone else's problem. Don't let them."_

If Aki didn't allow his sister's request, what kind of brother would he be? The silly, boring kind that didn't enable pranks and fun?

Oh, begone horrible thought.

Aki grinned slyly, leaning forward and keeping his eyes on the instructor. "I'm afraid I can't allow that," he purred. "She's exactly where she needs to be, with the people she needs to interact with."

For the next month, all of Yuki's pranks were aimed away from Aki, as per their prior agreement. Aki also helped with the pranks, making sure _no one_ in Konoha was safe. Not even the Hokage and his family- _especially_ not Lord Third.

Hiruzen prayed for the day the Uzumakis weren't his problem anymore.

.

.

.

Aki, with Yuki and Sakura in tow, made his way to Sasuke's house, knocking twice on the door. Sasuke opened it, a blank look on his face as Aki explained their purpose at the Uchiha clan.

"Yuki and Sakura here wanna try their hands in poisons. A while ago, I heard your mother was quite the poisons specialist."

By the end of the week, the two girls had completed their stripping hallucinogenic and tested it on the unfortunate Jiraiya. The next prank war would be... _interesting,_ to say the least.  
.

.

.

Aki smiled at the three children, letting his body relax as Uzushio's chakra flowed over him. Naruto took the lead of showing Yuki and Karin around the island, determined to show them everything there was to see, including Aki's shadow clones who were hard at work rebuilding the city. (Despite the fact Karin had already taken a tour, she was more than happy to go on the sudden family trip. This time without any time limit.) Aki, meanwhile, stayed near Kakashi, who claimed he wanted to get better at adjusting to areas with high chakra.

Aki guessed the _real_ reason was to make sure the four Uzumaki didn't gang up on anyone prank-wise. Not that they'd do that anyway, they knew no one would have a _chance_ if they did.

But, in order to go along with Kakashi's excuse, Aki took the two of them to the places with the heaviest chakra. A waterfall hidden in a lagoon, a large tree with seals etched all into the trunk, the very center of Uzushio- a fountain with seals and running water forever flowing and standing tall in the village square. They spent about an hour at each place, Aki telling the Hatake about the history and surrounding area and _why_ the places had so much chakra.

That vault Aki opened held much _more_ than _sealing techniques_. Everything an Uzumaki would pass down to their children verbally was written down and safely sealed in the vault, probably for if the generations forgot over the course of the war. (The other possibility was that they knew they'd get attacked and forced off the island and into hiding, but Aki chose to ignore it.)

Eventually, they made it back to the lagoon, Aki not hesitating to plop down on the sands and sticking his bare feet into the clear water, having left his shoes at home.

"It's a beautiful place," Kakashi said suddenly, still standing and in his usual uniform. "Still alive after all this time."

Aki nodded, watching the small fish creep to his feet shyly. "It'll never truly die, at least not until the rest of the Uzumaki do."

"Seals?"

"Seals."

They sat in silence for a while, letting time pass them silently. "You have piercings?"

Aki looked in shock towards the other jonin, but smiled and nodded. "More than you think, actually. Tattoos, too."

"... Can I see?"

Aki easily nodded, standing and pulling his shirt off.

Ever since he's been back, he's slowly added more tattoos since he now had the resources (so he wouldn't forget what was riding on his mission. What his precious people placed in him, and their bonds). A crow on his inner arm for Itachi, who he knew he'd always respect after Sasuke told him his story. A delicate-looking, purple fan held by a wooden marionette on his left side, beside the Kirin for Temari and Kankuro. A lotus flower on the back of his right hand for Lee, vines traveling up his arm to his elbow for Gai. A kunai in the vines for Tenten. A group of bush clovers decorated his left forearm for Ino, and a violet and blue butterfly rested on his diaphragm for Choji. A tree ran from the outside of his ankle to his hip, branching out across his stomach and back behind his other tattoos for Yamato. On his other leg, a wolf snarled at any who saw it, cold brown eyes nearly blending into dark brown fur for Kiba.

He let Kakashi's eyes roam over the art, questions in his eyes. So, Aki explained.

"I had a friend with a deep connection to deer," he pointed at Shikamaru's tattoo. "My first crush was named after sakura petals, and she turned into a precious person to me. Our other teammate and significant other was a lightning user and as powerful and rare as a dragon. His brother was connected to crows, and while I didn't know the man, I knew what he sacrificed for him. I knew a weapons master whose teachings saved me on more than one occasion. A painter became my new teammate when our third left."

He paused, taking a breath. "One of my brothers became much stronger after his metamorphosis, and one of my sisters aimed to be a bush clover in her life. I think she accomplished that goal, even if she never stopped long enough to see it. Two people reminded me of the lotus, truly blooming twice. A student and his teacher, actually. They helped my taijutsu get where it is today. I knew someone with a close bond with nature, and he became my jonin sensei when my original sensei was out of commission after saving the panda, who was another brother to me. A real kindred spirit to my own." He lifted his pant leg enough to see the wolf.

"One of my brothers was a dog person, and he always acted like a territorial wolf near me. Probably because his crush liked me. We were so similar, yet just different enough to bond. At least, without destroying everything around us," Aki chuckled at the memory, of butting heads and snarls later turned to unbreakable trust.

He turned around. "The flower that the bird's holding? That crush and her brother. The brother became mine as well after we settled our differences and I guaranteed I didn't like his sister in a romantic sense. The fan and marionette are the panda's siblings who became my own after we really got talking. My grandmother was a medic and saved me more times than I'd care to remember. The book's author reminds me of my own godfather, and I know he'd be utterly captivated by it."

"... And these two?"

Aki felt Kakashi touch the Hatake and Uzumaki clan marks, fingers brushing against skin.

"I knew a few other Uzumaki, before Yuki and Naruto," he started, standing still. "They were in bad places, and ultimately died while helping me. I wear it for them, and for my clan. As for yours... I knew a Hatake, a long time ago. He told me if he ever died, he'd let me get it so any family he had left would help me out if I needed it that badly."

"You never used it."

Aki shook his head, his hair slowly following the motion so it went back over his shoulder, covering his back once more. "I never want to. But who am I to deny a dead person's request? Besides, it's the only thing I have left to remember him by. Last physical thing that can't be destroyed, anywho."

Without turning around, Aki stepped forward and grabbed his shirt from the ground, easily pulling it over his head and pulling his hair out from under it.

"What about your piercings?"

Aki blinked at the Hatake, smiling. He brushed his hair behind his ears, walking back up to Kakashi so he could see. "I eventually ran out of ink for tattoos, so I found rings. They all mean something, but they're different. Each one, I got with the original person they were meant for. When there was time, anyway."

"Only your ears are pierced?"

Kakashi knew the answer, having seen the bellybutton ring in the red-head. To answer, though, Aki only opened his mouth, sticking out his tongue to show the metal ball sitting there.

_Oh, Kami._

.

.

.

Aki _hated_ hospitals. Loathed them passionately, in fact.

No, he wasn't salty about how they ignored him as a kid. He wasn't mad about how blatantly selective the staff was about who they saw.

No, he just hated the smell of hospitals and the feelings associated with them.

But one of his genin needed help, and he wasn't going to deny her. Especially when he knew, from his Sakura's ranting, that hospitals never carried feminine products for nurses and doctors, let alone patients. It was up to the person to carry the items, which both Aki and his teammates agreed was a stupid rule. It was one of the many things Sakura planned on changing when she became the head medic. And from how she smelled during training, Aki knew Sakura'd have her period soon.

He knew that scent well, actually. Mainly from when she'd just show up at his house for dinner, leave, then complain about pains all day, wondering why life was cruel, 'blessing' her with the ability to reproduce. He knew the scent because that meant hellish training courtesy of the resident Haruno every 30 days exactly- he counted. She was scarily consistent after her first year.

Which brought him to the present, standing right outside the hospital where he knew Sakura was taking a shift holding a shopping bag with, what he knew from his Sakura, were her favored items, including hygiene stuff plus favored snacks.

He flickered into the break room, leaving the bag with a note that said; 

_Sakura,_

_Please don't kill me. Just trying to help._

_~Aki_

Then he left, satisfied with a job-well-done.

.

.

.

Kakashi internally cussed, eyes sneakily darting around. Of _course_ energetic enigma Aki would get along with Gai like gasoline and a lit match. _Of course, they'd do something as ridiculous as sprinting around the village on their hands while exchanging kicks and throwing random items they had on hand. Of course Aki had water balloons filled with anything except water._

Aki had, surprisingly, won the bout. Gai left with exclamations of a ' _new, worthy rival who should join me and my Eternal Rival in contests from now on! The flame of youth burns bright in you!'_

Kakashi vaguely wondered if this is how the Hokage felt with everything related to Aki, Team 7, and/or himself.

He swore his hair turned a shade of gray when he heard Aki extend an offer to swap teams for a day.

.

.

.

After a week of avoiding it, Kakashi finally got trapped. Though, in hindsight, trying to hide from a sensor Uzumaki was probably a bad idea- _especially_ when said Uzumaki got a certain blue beast to get in on the hunt.

And a hunt it was.

Normally, when Kakashi heard, smelled, or saw one of the people he was avoiding, he'd shunshin away or leave a clone. But this time, as he gathered his chakra, that damned Uzumaki _jumped on him and slapped a seal on him that canceled specifically teleporting jutsu._ And Kakashi just had to wonder, **_THERE WAS A SEAL FOR THAT?!?!_**

The maniac cackling coming from the tomato on his back didn't help matters at all. If anything, it coupled with the yell of 'I GOT HIM' made Kakashi partially deaf in that ear. Maybe both; he'd have to ask Sakura to check later, as she was the only medic he trusted. (That was on _thin freaking ice_ after news of her and Yuki's stripping drug got out.)

A dust cloud followed his rival, heading straight for the unwilling Hatake and the laughing Uzumaki. " _WONDERFUL JOB, NEW RIVAL! YOUR TRACKING SKILLS MAY BE ON PAR WITH MY ETERNAL RIVAL'S!!"_

Kakashi didn't need something so loud so close to his face. So, to try and weasel his way out, Kakashi feigned deafness to Gai. "Maa... did you say something?"

Ah, _there_ was the waterworks. "So cool!!"

"We were just saying," Aki stated, still clinging to Kakashi, "that trading genin would be a very educational experience. Because as exceptional a teacher Gai-san is, there are some things he can't teach- same with the two of us." Then, quieter, Aki stated, "It's a way to instill the fear of green into the brats, too. And I've seen Gai's kids, they're very easy to tease."

Damn Uzumaki and knowing what buttons to push.

Kakashi pretended to think about it, bringing a hand to his chin and closing his eye in mock thought. "Maa, you bring up a good point. Our genin need to work on their taijutsu."

"It just so happens that I'm something of an expert!!" Gai's enthusiastic smile was contagious to Aki, who had a silly grin on his face whenever Gai showed up.

Something ugly reared its head in Kakashi's gut. He chose to ignore it, like so many of his other problems.

"And, if I remember correctly, one of your students can't use much ninjutsu," Aki stated. "We can help teach him how to fight someone who specializes in ninjutsu and give him that experience."

"That would be most appreciated," Gai shouted, giving a thumbs up that Aki immediately returned. "Then it's settled! When shall we commence the training!"

"No time like the present," Aki purred, and Kakashi could easily imagine the sly smirk on his face. Proud and sadistic, like the smile Kushina used to wear when one of her pranks went better than planned.

That smirk never failed to instill fear in those who knew its meaning.

.

.

.

Through a game of rock-paper-scissors, Kakashi ended up with the honor of sparring with Lee while Aki took Neji and Tenten.

Tenten, at the very least, looked a bit worried about Aki's safety. "Um, Aki-san, are you sure it's ok for both of us to attack you at once? Even Gai-sensei splits us up for spars."

Aki only smiled, his hands in his pockets. "I guess you'll see, won't you?" He walked a few steps away, then used an earth jutsu to create a circle about 3 meters in circumference with him in the center. "This will be a slightly different spar. Your goal is to get me out of this circle, whichever way you can. Fail, and I'll make your usual training look like a _warm-up._ Succeed, and you can take the rest of the day off."

A clone appeared just outside the circle, a timer appearing in its hand. It set down the clock and made a couple of hand signs, the circle glowing blue for a moment. At the same time, Aki slapped a seal onto the back of his hand, the seal glowing blue with the circle before fading.

"What was that?"

Aki turned to the Hyuga, casual smile still in place. "So we know if I actually leave the circle. It's a jutsu/seal combo I created." _For the few times we took prisoners... Back when they took the fallen bodies of our comrades and turned them against us. It was so we could talk to some of our loved ones without the worry of them hurting us once more._ "The seal acts as a tracker. I'm sure you can see the thin layer of chakra it put over my body," he directed at Neji.

The boy activated his Byakugan a second later, nodding. "And the chakra from the circle. When they interact, they'll create a signal. For this seal, it'll be a buzzer sound," Aki continued, raising an arm and letting his fingers brush the edge of the circle. Just as he said, a buzzer sounded, but something else happened unbeknownst to the genin.

A noticeable shock went through Aki's body. Not enough to cause harm in a living being, but enough for him to notice, even with his ridiculous pain tolerance. But his smile didn't falter, and he didn't move unnaturally.

"You can attack from both in and out of the circle however you wish. Ninjutsu, taijutsu, any sort of weapon is allowed. You can work together or try your luck alone- you can even try to lead Kashi and Lee's spar over here to try and trip me up. But the final push must be from one of your attacks. You have until sundown, and you can take a break at any point if you feel you need it," Aki stated, his hands in his pockets. "Ready?"

The two nodded, and Aki's smile turned feral. "GO!"

Tenten moved first. Which, in hindsight, shouldn't have been a surprise. She was much more of a ranged fighter than Neji, and it gave the two a way to test Aki's skills.

Within half a second, her scroll was open and various weapons were raining down on Aki.

Without even drawing a blade, Aki dodged everything thrown his way, almost as though he didn't exist at the second something was supposed to hit. Neji, with his Byakugan active, was... _puzzled._ He couldn't see any change in his chakra- couldn't see Aki's chakra at _all._ It was almost like the jonin _didn't exist._ Which was impossible- he was _right there._ But it wasn't just the chakra he couldn't see.

With his Byakugan active, Neji couldn't see the Uzumaki at _all._

.

.

Aki had given them the whole day, as training started at 8 and sundown was around 7. Of course, he and Kakashi arrived a couple of hours late, giving the genin the full Team 7 Experience. So the exercise actually started around noon, and seven hours later, Neji and Tenten were barely standing on their feet, bruises lining their bodies.

Aki was still in the circle, not even slightly out of breath. His smile grew into a smirk.

"Report here for training at 5 AM tomorrow. We'll start when everyone gets here." He disabled the seal and stepped out of the circle, smirk still in place. "Oh, and don't eat before you come. You'll puke."

"Wait," Neji gasped out, barely managing to catch his breath. He hadn't had a chance to ask earlier, and this was it. Aki raised an eyebrow at the genin, silently allowing him to continue. "Why can't the Byakugan see you?"

Aki smiled, hands on his hip. "That would be because of my stealth seals," Aki stated, garnering several _looks_ from those who didn't know about his seals. "I can show you sometime."

"I've never heard of a seal like that," Tenten pitched in, her breathing stabilizing quicker as she had stopped just a tad earlier.

"That's because I made it," Aki shrugged. The stars in Tenten's eyes brightened even further than when he brought out his scythe for a while, upon both asking him to arm himself.

"You know sealing?"

Aki snorted in his head. _Why is that the first question people ask when I talk about seals?_ He nodded, though. "I'm a master, actually. You make your own seals, don't you?" At Tenten's nod, Aki continued. "I can take a look sometime if you want. See if there's anything we can do to strengthen them."

Tenten's nod had her back on the ground, and Aki smiled.

Was he about to make his genin take the bell test again alongside Gai's team?

Yes.

Was he going to punish the kids if they couldn't get the bells or failed the teamwork?

_Also yes._

And to make sure he didn't go easy on them, he asked Kakashi what _he'd_ do.

... Aki was about to have some fun. The kids? Not so much.

.

.

.

It took an astonishing amount of time for Aki to run into anyone from the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Luckily for his cover story (unluckily for his mental health), he met the Rookie Trio _before_ encountering their parents. If he had met their parents before truly getting his act together, Aki would have been immediately found out and (probably) sent to T&I. 

As it was, word of Aki's training had made its way through the ranks. He wasn't completely sure what stories were circulating, as things had a habit of growing out of hand within the Shinobi Grapevine. But a couple of days after training ended with Gai's team, Asuma of all people approached him.

Aki's first meeting with the man was quite ordinary, as was the case with most of the other jonin. Pretty much just a swapping of names, laughter at a joke or two, mainly just making a good impression and answering most questions as best he could. But this time, the older man had a plan, a mission, and Aki knew it.

"Would you help train my team for a day?"

... That wasn't what Aki was expecting. And so, as the eloquent Uzumaki he was, Aki responded with an intelligent, "Huh?"

.

With Aki's rank, it was only a matter of time before he encountered one Shikaku Nara. A Shikaku Nara who didn't know the full story behind Aki, and who _knew_ he didn't have the whole story. A Shikaku Nara who was curious about _said_ story, for it to be completely hidden from even the Hokage's right hand. And a curious Shikaku Nara was a _very dangerous_ Shikaku Nara.

Honestly, it said something of Aki's stealth skills to have avoided Shikaku for as long as he did while still appearing as usual in public. He managed to make it to Tsunade's reign as Hokage, but unfortunately, she had asked Shikaku's opinion of the Uzumaki.

When Shikaku realized just how little he actually knew of the red-head, his curiosity grew even further. However, he wouldn't go out specifically to _find_ said red-head, as that was far too much trouble for the lazy man.

His chance came within the week of Tsunade's inauguration, directly after the end of the Fourth Great Prank War. When the Uzumaki made countless clones to clean up the mess by hand- as was his punishment from Tsunade. It just so happened that the real Aki had taken the Nara compound for cleanup, alongside his clones.

Those traitorous beings.

Later, after _hours_ spent reviewing the thousands of hours of memories from each of his clones, Aki finally found out what really happened. Shikaku had simply asked the clone cleaning the interior of the compound where to find the real Aki.

And the clone had actually _told_ him. Like the traitor it was.

Either way, he had no out from the shogi invitation from the Nara head.

So, Aki internally sighed while pasting on a smile and agreed to a 'quick' game.

A " _quick"_ game.

... It ended up being more of an interrogation disguised as some kind of game. Or, if you like metaphors, an unjust game where Aki had to pretend to be something he wasn't. Had to pretend he couldn't win against a Nara, because winning meant more games, which meant more questions, which meant a _much_ higher chance of slipping up. Towards the end, Aki forfeited, spewing some excuse he didn't quite remember anymore to get out of the compound.

... If he had stayed another three minutes, he would have heard Shikaku cursing and Shikamaru pointing out he was a singular move away from checkmating the Nara, while Shikaku was around three.

That only put _more_ curiosity on the red-head, and poor Shikamaru was somewhat goaded into finding out more about the Uzumaki. It was troublesome, and a pain, but he supposed he didn't mind _too_ much- not that he'd ever admit it. He was _also_ curious about Aki, and the upcoming training day provided the perfect situation to learn more (Asuma had informed the team about Aki joining them soon, maybe to convince them to work harder to impress the Uzumaki).

(It didn't work, but a Sarutobi could dream.)

.

.

.

On the way to the meet-up spot, Aki actually ran into Asuma, which was quite a coincidence. 

(It wasn't a coincidence, but Asuma didn't need to know that.)

After swapping greetings and agreeing to walk together, Aki asked the question he'd been meaning to. "So, do you just want me to watch what you usually do or...?"

Asuma sighed. "Just... whatever you _can._ We'll start as normal, but when you get an idea of what you can help them with, feel free to jump in."

Aki nodded, in thought. "Then, I have an idea."

.

.

.

Aki's 'idea' turned out to be... well, Asuma couldn't decide if it was brilliant or a torture technique, especially on genin. It wasn't all too far from what Aki did with his Uzumaki kits, but on a lesser scale.

_"All three of you are going to pull some pranks," Aki had stated before the kids could even ask who he was. "Specifically, either on Asuma-san or myself, though everyone in the village is fair game. If we can guess who pulled what prank, you lose. If we catch you in the act, you lose. If you don't play a prank, you lose. If you can't do this within a week, you lose."_

_Here, his grin went from unsettling to downright evil. "If you lose, you and your accomplices will have nothing but Tora missions until you can prank **me** and get away with it. Start!"_

Not surprisingly at all, Shikamaru was the first to figure out the exercise. To see what was underneath the underneath.

First, they could get outside help. As shown by the ' _and you accomplices'_ in Aki's instructions.

Second, they could target people outside of Asuma and Aki- which wasn't _nearly_ as hidden as the first tip. 

Third, any scale of prank was acceptable. From covering the whole dang _village_ in glitter to putting itching powder in Aki's desk.

Fourth, they could place _several._ In fact, they were _encouraged_ to do so.

Knowing all this, Shikamaru dragged his team to the only two people on the planet who might be able to help them.

.

.

.

"Of course I'll help you prank Aki-nii," the little girl stated, as though they were stupid for even _asking._ Yuki hopped off her comically tall stool and beckoned the three genin to follow her. After a couple of twists and turns within the deceptively small compound (The building looked so much bigger on the outside, for some reason), Yuki paused in front of a random, large, empty hallway. There were doors at the end of the hall and about half-way down, but none near the beginning, which Shikamaru found a bit strange. She stopped Ino from charging forward, a devilish smirk on her face. 

"Why are we stopping?"

Yuki turned towards the window on the left, tapping her chin. "Now, which one was this...?" She took three comically large steps forward, four to the right, and stared hard at the floor for a moment. Just when the Ino-Shika-Cho trio thought they went to a nutcase for help, Yuki grinned wildly. Her hands flew through signs too fast for any of them to hope to catch, and she slammed her hand against the floor. Within a few seconds, the wall in front of her slid away, revealing a near-identical hall on the other side. The only difference were the lack of windows, the shelves filled with seemingly-random items, and the marked doors. 

Yuki grinned. "Here we go."

"Woah, what did you do," Ino asked, her eyes wide. She wasn't the only one impressed.

"That one's fake," Yuki stated, gesturing towards the hall they had stopped at. "It has seals in it, making it an infinite hallway. Very easy to get caught in if you're not careful," she explained, leading the way into the 'true' hall. "Aki-nii gets very paranoid sometimes."

"Woah..."

She nodded sagely. "Seals are epic. So, what kind of prank were you thinking about?"

When Shikamaru explained the parameters Aki set down, Yuki's eyes sharpened. "Is that what he said? Verbatim?" When Shikamaru nodded, Yuki rubbed her hands together as a smile broke out on her face. "Wonderful. Let's get you guys set up."

.

.

.

Aki was _proud._ Not only had the genin figured out a different way through his test, but they also executed their pranks _splendidly._

First was the plastic wrap. It was across most doorways (not just in the Uzumaki compound, but the entire village) _right_ at face height. Seals along the doorways ensured that no matter how many times it was cut, it'd repair within an hour. 

_Brilliant._

Second were the misplacement seals. When someone stepped on one, they'd instantly be transported somewhere random within the village. And those seals were _everywhere._ In the road, on rooftops, the sides of buildings, random poles, _everywhere._

Third was a mostly-harmless prank, just somewhat aggravating (especially for the Akimichi). Somehow, every flavor of chips in the village was swapped with another. For example, BBQ tasted like sour cream (while looking and smelling like BBQ), sour cream like cheddar, and so on and so forth. 

Fourth were the invisible walls randomly strewn around the village, tuned to react only to Aki's, Asuma's, and the third Hokage's chakra. So those walls only existed to those three people. 

Aki, to state this once more, was _proud._ Asuma seemed to be as well, if not for the slight annoyance at all of these pranks.

.

.

.

Aki didn't turn around at the presence behind him, still staring at the sky in Suna. He heard sand rustling, shifting, and footsteps approaching.

"What are you doing here."

_Young Gaara never asked questions, only stating something people could only guess was an inquiry._ "Watching the stars. You?"

"... Patrol."

Aki didn't comment on it, only patting the space next to him. "Take a seat. Enjoy the stars for a while."

After a long moment, Gaara sat beside the Uzumaki, suspicion in his chakra. "... Why."

"You never know when the stars won't be there anymore," Aki started, keeping his face upwards. "And you have the best view of the sky in the entire Elemental Nations. Why waste it?" Aki took a deep breath, peace in his heart. "You never know how precious something is until you lose it... and it's better to treasure something while it's here."

Gaara stayed silent for a moment, thinking.

"Who are you."

"Aki Uzumaki."

"Why is _he_ so obsessed with you."

Aki blinked, looking at the child who was staring at him, and shrugged. "Maybe if you ask him, he'll tell you."

He left soon after, flashing back home.

.

.

No matter what anyone said (ahem, _Yuki_ , ahem), Aki did _not_ cry during Tsunade's ceremony.

_He didn't!_

He _did_ cry when Sasuke was kidnapped because, while he hoped he didn't go to Orochimaru, he didn't know. And he knew he wouldn't stop Sasuke if that was what he chose.

He didn't go on the rescue Sasuke mission, having already been on a high-class mission with Kakashi when a hawk gave him the news.

They were camping, getting ready to complete the mission objective when the hawk found them.

All Kakashi knew was that one moment Aki was reading a paper and fine and the next the waterworks started, his body ready to either run or fight the next thing that moved. He had _never_ seen Aki cry, before, and the sight _terrified_ him. Aki's breathing was deceptively calm compared to the slight tremble of his hand.

When he read the message, he understood why. From what the Hatake pieced together, Aki's teammate left the village when they were young, possibly kidnapped and brainwashed. From the hints Aki's left, Sasuke is a lot like that teammate- so much so that he seems to see his teammate instead of the genin sometimes.

Having the Uchiha kidnapped while he was away and unable to do anything? It was probably like reliving the incident.

Kakashi was shit at comforting people, he knew. But he also knew Aki was a very physically dependent person, so the likelihood of a hug helping the man, no matter how awkward, was much higher than any words Kakashi could think up at that moment.

So, he walked behind the Uzumaki and let his arms wrap around his waist, noting how short the man was compared to him. He could rest his chin on the red-head easily, actually.

Aki moved in his grasp, turning around and hugging Kakashi back fiercely.

They stayed like that for longer than either of them felt until Aki pulled back, taking a deep breath.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Aki still smiled at the Hatake, calming down. "Still."

And if Aki never told Kakashi how close to a panic attack he was in that moment, that was his business and his alone.

.

.

The mission they were on was a success like both knew it would be.

Kakashi would be lying if he said he predicted the way Aki would act on a serious mission. Or, he should say, _accurately_ predict. Aki was still relaxed the whole time but didn't utter a word until they made it back to their camp. He was more serious than Kakashi had ever seen him, and it was really... _strange,_ Kakashi decided on. He decided he didn't want to see that expression on the redhead's face anymore than he had to.

It was unsettling, to say the least. And Aki seemed completely unaware it was happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!  
> over 5 and a half thousand words when it was 3,000 last week 
> 
> this has got to be my favorite chapter so far, honestly. i had so much fun writing this, and im kinda sad to see it go, but sometimes ya gotta let the (blue) birds fly off on their own.  
> anyway!!!   
> thank you so much to everyone who left prank comments on last chapter ^^ any i read before editing this chapter have been implemented at least a little, and i hope yall liked this as much as i did ^^
> 
> after this, i only have a couple more chapters pre-written, so i think ill slow back down on updates for a while and actually chill out uwu
> 
> anyway, next chapter is the time skip! and what aki does during it! (we all know hes not really training...) featuring Cuddles for Aki, Operation Make Uzumaki Sleep, Kakashi realizing he might have Feelings (poor kashi), a failed rescue mission (skip the third exerpt if you have a problem with death and anger), sasuke choosing what to do, finally getting a rabbit to a vet, Answering Naruto's Questions, and a bit more! 
> 
> enough of my rambling. as always, have a good day/night, and see yall next chapter!


	14. Training Leave!!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wooo!!! Time skip!!!

_It's time,_ Aki thought, a sad smile on his face. Naruto had asked for the red-heads permission last night, and even Yuki was going with one of her clan friends on a training journey for a while. Karin was going to oversee progress on Uzushio (as per her request) and to make sure the clones were doing their jobs. Not to mention the fact that she wanted to connect with her roots, see Uzushio for what it was, and learn more about the clan. She'd go with Yamato, who had volunteered (Tsunade had made it an S-rank, but given the chance to whoever wanted it). The three young Uzumaki had left that morning, and now Aki was alone in the spacious compound. Sasuke went with the blond, hoping to find a more permanent tutor somewhere along the trip, but Aki had a sneaking suspicion that Sasuke would train either in the Leaf or the Mist. _Maybe_ Uzushio, to learn the Uzumaki style- but that was a much slimmer chance.

Aki didn't stay at the compound at all for the first few days, forgoing sleep completely in favor of training, meditating, or watching the village on Minato's head. He never did well alone, even before the war. But during the war, a shinobi alone was a dead one. It was even worse when he was the last. The only thing that kept him going through that was the possibility of not being alone anymore. _Anything_ was better than the reality he found himself in.

One night, though, Kakashi found him, an annoyed look on his face. "You haven't been home."

Aki shrugged, leaning back on his hands to look up at the Hatake. "I've been around."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed at him, arms crossed. "You haven't been home in at _least_ a week. Probably more with how stale the air in your house was."

Aki grinned sheepishly at the Hatake, shrugging. "Oops?" When he didn't move, Aki sighed, leaning forwards again and curling up, looking at the village. "I don't like being alone. Especially not when I wake up. Sometimes I forget where I am, and all... _this_ feels like a dream." His arms lazily gestured to the village, confusing Kakashi a little but he didn't interrupt. "When the house is empty, it's harder to remember. Harder to know where I am. It feels like I'll wake up back _there,_ alone and hollow and..." He trailed off, his eyes growing distant. Then, Aki shook himself, blinking back to reality in order to finish his thought. "And that thought terrifies me."

Kakashi eventually softened, picking Aki up by his collar and flickering into the Uzumaki compound. Specifically, into Aki's room. "Change," he said, tone refusing argument. "Get ready for bed."

Then he was gone, leaving Aki alone in the room. He doubted it'd stay like that, though, so he shrugged and did as told. He didn't want to anger Kakashi even _more,_ after all.

Sure enough, as soon as he was done and returned to his room, Kakashi was chilling against the headboard, reading and under the covers. A quick glance around revealed some of the Hatake's belongings scattered in the room and, Aki suspected, the whole compound. He didn't comment, just shrugging and sliding into bed, the side away from the wall.

In seconds, he was asleep, catching up on what he sorely needed.

Soon after, Kakashi sealed his book away, taking a glance at the already-moving Uzumaki. The red-head was already over the halfway mark on the bed, arms and feet crossing onto Kakashi's side. He chuckled lowly before sliding fully under the covers, letting the Uzumaki cling to him as he drifted off.

.

.

.

Even though he went to sleep last, he woke up first, relishing the quiet moments he had to wake up.

Aki was, predictably, still clinging to Kakashi, limbs wrapped fully around the Hatake. And he didn't hate it.

That's what made Aki so special to Kakashi. He didn't hate when the Uzumaki touched him. Usually, he couldn't stand even _talking_ to people after a certain point. He couldn't deal with prolonged human exposure very well, and he never _liked_ anyone touching him. He _loathed_ it, actually. The only time he didn't was with Gai, and that was only because of their rivalry. Even then, he'd _never_ let Gai do what Aki was doing, not even for the first time. Heck, with how stiff Aki was the first time Kakashi slept over, he doubted the Uzumaki moved much that night, so it was probably Kakashi who initiated the cuddling.

This fact was backed up by his pack, who had, in _eloquent_ terms, called him completely, unfathomably whipped.

He couldn't argue with it, nor did he feel the need to.

Kakashi was never one for physical attention or affection after what happened with his team, but...

 _But Aki's an exception,_ his mind whispered.

He could get used to this. Waking up in someone's arms, nice and warm. Of not being left alone to wallow in despair and depression. If, of course, that someone was Aki. And he... didn't really know how to feel about that. On one hand, both humans and hounds were generally social creatures who needed a pack. The size of that pack varied for the individual but was still _there_. There when needed, there to accept help. There to share your struggles and pain and fears, and to help you grow.

On the other, Kakashi had already had a pack- first with his father, second with his first Team 7. He knows the pain of losing said pack all too well and wasn't very keen on repeating that pain. That dark area of his life was a time he'd rather never fall back in, but old habits died hard. 

Especially when proceeded by pain.

Before Kakashi could ponder about that more, the red-head woke up, blearily blinking away the sleep in his eyes. Kakashi watched as the Uzumaki slowly regained full consciousness, the realization of their proximity sinking into his head. Instead of shying away or covering any embarrassment he may or may not have felt, Aki only grinned at Kakashi, loosening his hold in case the Hatake wanted to get up. "Mornin'."

"Sleep well?"

Aki nodded, mumbling something too quiet to hear before thinking for a moment. "Better than in a while, actually." He yawned, gently bringing his legs as close to his body as possible without pressing against Kakashi. It seemed that, while conscious, Aki was hyper-aware of where the two of them were, careful not to touch Kakashi at all. "Didn't dream."

Kakashi hummed, blinking and gently nudging Aki's leg with his own in silent consent. "I suppose that's a good thing, then."

"No dreams, no nightmares. A good thing." Aki responded to that, finally relaxing and letting himself press against the other man. 

Kakashi's eyes narrowed playfully, voice going low. "Am I your dreamcatcher or something?" Aki chuckled at that, a loose smile on his face.

"If ya keep doin' it, yeah." And _damn_ if his sleepy voice wasn't attractive. Low and slow and shortening his words as much as possible. Kakashi'd nearly call it an accent if it showed up more, but he also knew people could mask their verbal ticks.

"Do you have an accent?"

Aki blinked but shrugged. "Maybe a bit o' a drawl. Didn't grow up in tha best part o' town, y'know. They got a specific way o' speakin'." He was obviously exaggerating it, but the Hatake could tell it was still _there._ Just not as thick, usually. Aki's face scrunched in thought and amusement as he looked up at Kakashi. "'T's not thick, 's it?"

The Hatake chuckled, eyes turning up in a smile. "It's not bad."

Aki yawned again, letting his eyes close once more. Seconds later, he was asleep again, still clinging to Kakashi. He mentally snickered, having the perfect excuse for being late to his meeting with the Hokage.

.

.

.

.

Aki covered a smile, staring at the shinobi in front of him. He was on a mission, chasing down rumors of a jinchuriki.

He knew they were false because he knew Kurama's jinchuriki, and the silver-haired man wasn't an Uzumaki from what he could tell. Neither the chakra nor the features matched. He let the group keep bragging, trying to intimidate him into leaving using Kurama's title. Which was quite sad, he had to say. Unsurprising, but sad.

... Strangely, Aki couldn't hear Kurama inevitably cursing them out.

With a frown, he created a shadow clone to watch the group, retreating into their mindscape easily.

What greeted him was an empty lair, the only remnant being a small Kurama with a furious look on his face. Confused, Aki knelt beside him. "What's wrong?"

" _ **That bastard stole most of me!**_ _"_

Aki froze, real body tensing just as his mental one did. ".... What."

_**"He's got some Uzumaki hostage and is siphoning off their chakra and absorbing it! He forced one of them to use some kind of seal!"** _

Aki blinked back into his real body, holding a hand out to the clone. It poofed, leaving Aki with pointless memories as nothing had happened.

A snarl formed on his face, pure anger flooding his veins. _Did it hurt?_

_**... Nothing I couldn't take. Just get me out of there.** _

Aki took a moment to get his anger under control, face staying a storm cloud. In a low voice carried by the wind, he said, " _You'll pay."_

The group laughed, arrogance pouring out of their everything. "Sure, kid. Go home to mommy."

Aki did something he later regretted, not because of the immediate effect, but because it put him on everyone's radars.

He disabled his suppression seals, letting his chakra flood the area full of his rage. His violet eyes turned scarlet, pupil turning into slits as he allowed his rage to transform his features.

He didn't take long to defeat the fakers, but what didn't help his anger was how the ringleader begged and tried negotiating. Aki only entered his mindscape, noticing the trembling figure in the corner and the giant Fox.

" **Finally. I got tired of being in this coward."**

Aki nodded, easily destroying the seal and letting _his_ mindscape take over. Kurama easily swept the fake shinobi out of their mindscape and plopped over to his usual spot. Aki returned to his body, sealing away the group and searching for the Uzumaki they had, but only finding bodies.

With a heavy heart, Aki returned to Konoha, gave his report, and went home, just flopping into bed for some sleep plagued by nightmares.  
.

.

.

.

As Aki predicted, Sasuke chose to train in the Mist. _Un_ like what he predicted, the Uchiha also decided to train in Uzushio for a time, sending a letter to ask Aki to either lend a clone or to come to train the boy himself. Around the time Aki got the news, he remembered a certain couple of injured shinobi who needed medical attention.

_How could I have forgotten? They're literally in my bookcase!_

_**Don't ask me.** _

Aki internally groaned, grabbing the two scrolls and flashing to Tsunade's office. Luckily, she wasn't in a meeting _and_ sober- a rare combination these days.

"I need your help," Aki said, walking forwards. She raised an eyebrow, silently telling him to go on. "I have a couple of patients in need of medical attention." Immediately, her face hardened with seriousness.

"Where."

The red-head held up the scrolls, explaining the seal as he did so. Shock filled Tsunade's face as he wrapped up his explanation. "You can do that?"

He nodded, continuing while she came to grips with this possibility. "With this, we can reduce the number of casualties in war substantially. And these two need your help."

She nodded, standing and sweeping past the door, Aki in tow. "Fill me in on our way to the hospital."

.

.

.

Haku was, understandably, extremely confused. He did a sweep of the room, noting the two people in the hospital room. "Where is Zabuza-sama?"

The red-head ( _Aki_ , his mind supplied) stepped forward, taking a seat on Haku's bed with a relieved look on his face. "He's fine. Asleep for now, but he'll be okay. And you are, too."

Haku frowned, mind catching up to the present. The last thing he remembered was jumping in front of the Copy Nin's _Chidori_ _,_ the jutsu shredding his heart.

"Remember the seal I was working on when we first met?" Haku's eyes snapped to the red-head, nodding as he thought back. He remembered the seal, thinking it'd save lives if the Uzumaki lived beyond the mission.

He just didn't expect it'd save _his_ and _Zabuza_ _-_ _sama's_ _._ The red-head nodded, a smile on his face. "Well, welcome back to the world of the living. I hear you and Zabuza needed money for the rebellion in Kiri, and now the world thinks you're dead." Already, Haku's mind supplied benefits to being presumed dead and nodded his thanks towards the Uzumaki. He spent time asking the strange man every question that came to mind, soon receiving answers he never expected and questions he couldn't quite think about without getting a headache.

_There's no way he could possibly know all this... But what are the chances of time travel?_

.

.

.

Naruto stayed up all night, waiting for the second the clock turned 12. He remembered Aki's promise well and had been speculating over what the older Uzumaki's secrets could possibly be for actual _years_ now.

And he was finally about to get some answers.

Sure enough, as soon as midnight hit, Aki appeared in a flash of red light, having grown since Naruto had last seen the man. Not very much physically, but he seemed... _older._ More tired. Yet at the same time, more comfortable with his place. It was hard to explain, but still a notable change- especially since Naruto hadn't seen the older man or anyone else from Konoha since parting with Sasuke 6 months into their training journey.The Uzumaki smiled and sat down beside the blond, crossing his legs even as his nerves showed through his ease. "You've grown," he said, nostalgia in his face.

"And you're old," Naruto teased, a smile on _his_.

Aki laughed but nodded. "Sure feels like it." For a moment, neither said anything, lost in thoughts as Jiraiya's snoring permeated the air. "You probably won't see me the same after this," Aki eventually started, hesitation in his _everything_. It looked so out of place on the man who had grown to be a hero- _father-figure_ \- for the blond, and it would have had him worried if Naruto didn't know the cause. "And I can't blame you for that. Do you still want to know... Well, about me?"

Naruto's nod was a bit fast, but he was entirely too curious to turn down the offer. Aki sighed and rubbed the back of his head before speaking. "Alright. I promised I'd tell you the second you turned 16, and I'm not about to break it. Now, how to begin...?" Naruto waited with bated breath, leaning forward as though it'd make the red-head speak faster.

"... Well, 16 years ago today, a boy named Naruto Uzumaki was born to Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze," Aki started.

"Why are you telling me about my birth?"

Aki smiled, a bit pained but there. "You'll see." He took a deep breath and continued. "He grew up hated by the village he only wanted to protect, enduring fate far worse than what a child should. He had a dream- to become Hokage and make the villagers _see_ him. Not the beast he harbored, but _him._ His dream started coming true after his near-death experience in the Land of Waves when his teacher was put out of commission by Zabuza Momochi. After an epic final fight a week later, he and his team buried the missing-nin and the child he took in."

"But we didn't bury them," Naruto interrupted, a confused look on his face. "And neither you nor Kakashi-sensei got hurt during that mission."

"Not this time," Aki said, a sad smile on his face. "But I'm not done." The blond nodded and made a motion signifying he'd stay quiet. "Their deaths helped Naruto create his nindo," Aki said, a reminiscent look in his eyes. "But that wouldn't be the last time he'd see Zabuza and Haku. A couple of months later, his teacher enrolled his team for the Chunin Exams, where he met quite a few friends. But, during the second phase... Naruto's team was attacked by a Sanin known as Orochimaru- a man driven by curiosity and the need for power. He soundly defeated them, placing a Curse Mark on Sasuke and altering the seal on Naruto before disappearing into the forest. Sakura was left alone to defend her unconscious teammates to the best of her abilities."

Aki could see the questions on the blond's face, but he held up a hand. "She was eventually found by genin from the Hidden Sound- a village founded by Orochimaru after he took over the Land of Rice. Sakura got into a tough spot and was forced to cut her hair when Lee arrived, taking hits for her even as she fought to the best of her abilities. Sasuke soon woke up, a dark and dangerous aura surrounding him as his anger allowed the Curse Mark to fester and infect him. He, along with the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, dealt with the Sound Ninja, breaking one of their arms in a cruel fashion." Aki went on explaining and telling the story of the Naruto in his time, telling as though he were talking about a fictional character.

"... But Naruto didn't allow his friends to fight a war without him," Aki eventually got to, his face turning dark. "He'd sooner die than allow his friends to get hurt protecting him. And he did, a few times. But, unlike him, when his friends died, they usually didn't get lucky."

Naruto's eyes lightened in some form of understanding. "The dreams...?"

Aki nodded. "Memories," he said, leaning back on his hands. " _My_ memories, most likely. I grew up exactly like you did, down to the mold in the apartment. The only difference was... I didn't have a red-headed, violet-eyed Uzumaki adult who knew so much about everything it was kinda freaky, a little sister who had a penchant for poisons, and a big sister so passionate about history. There was no one named 'Aki' in my life, and no one looked twice at the demon brat until I could help them. Until it became obvious I was loyal to the village and was powerful enough to protect it. I met Yuki on the battlefield and Karin while she was with Orochimaru, always regretful that we hadn't met sooner. That no one told me about our clan."

"So," Naruto started, thinking. "What does this all mean?"

"I used to be you," Aki said, a regretful smile on his face. "I was you if the only thing that changed was the appearance of 'Aki Uzumaki'. You had him, while I had no one. I became the Seventh Hokage of Konoha just in time to see my village crushed under an enemy hidden in shadows, and my people killed by a grieving man's wish to see the love of his life again. In the end, it was my Kakashi, Sasuke, and me, all alone in the world. But when I finally killed the man who started it all..." Aki paused and took a deep breath, clasping his hands in his lap. "Well, I ended up being the last living thing on the planet. The only being left to complete our plan of going back in time to keep _my_ past from becoming _your_ future."

Naruto's eyes widened, his mouth agape. Aki didn't like seeing that look on the blond's face, so he stood, an awkward smile on his face. "Well, I should probably get going," he started, turning around.

"Wait," the boy called, grabbing Aki's shoulder. He didn't say anything when the red-head turned around with confusion on his face, only bringing the man he grew to see as his father into a hug.

And if tears were shed that night or a Sanin stayed awake to hear the tale, no one would tell _that_ particular tale.

.

.

.

Aki waved at the blonde woman, a bright smile on his face. "Temari! Long time no see," he said, watching in amusement as the young woman whirled around, soon relaxing.

"You're... Aki-san, correct? Naruto talked a lot about you." The red-head nodded, grin still in place.

"Yep." He thought for a moment, trying not to tear up at the brief flash of the Temari he knew before. "Now that I think about it, this is the first time we're meeting, isn't it?" At her nod, he chuckled, falling into step with her. "Strange... It feels like I've known you longer." He shrugged, blinking away some of the sand blowing in the desert wind. "Oh well. How's your brother adjusting to Kage life?"

She smiled, facing forward. "He's a natural. He's a great leader, and he already knew much of Suna's politics somehow." Aki grinned, keeping the fact that he imparted some Kage wisdom down to the younger red-head during one of their stargazing sessions. "Not counting his past, he's very easy to approach and friendly. I believe the village will come to see him as a friend soon enough."

Aki smiled, relief coursing through his veins. "That's good to hear. I know it isn't easy- being outcasted and ostracized from your village. Seeing him get a second chance like this... It really gives me hope."

She cast a curious glance towards the red-head, but before she could ask, he gave a one-handed wave and stepped away. "Well, I won't keep you any longer. I'm sure we're both very busy, but it was nice meeting you," he said, vanishing a second later.

Temari shook her head, wondering what the older shinobi had seen for him to make that comment. It sounded a bit too... _personal_ for him to be referencing Naruto and Gaara, specifically. _Who hurt you?_

.

.

.

Aki slid into the booth easily, a grin on his face. "Sorry I'm late- had a mask to lose," he told the Fifth Hokage and her student in front of him, activating a privacy and barrier seal as he grabbed some of the meat sat grilling between them. 

"What did you want to tell me that was so private we couldn't even use my office," Tsunade asked, leaning forward and getting straight to the point. "And why _this_ place? What's making my office a privacy leak?"

Aki laughed a little, taking a bite of the meat. "Straight to the point, huh?" He shook his head, soon sobering. His face was more serious than Tsunade had ever seen it- even when the man had told her of his failings when protecting Hiruzen. "First, there's a rat who chewed his way into your privacy seals. I can fix those sometime you're free, but you should really stage an extermination for it. Maybe start with the _root_ of the problem, eh?" He chuckled a bit at his pun but shook his head soon after, seriousness returning to his posture. 

"As for why here, this happens to be the best place in the village for secrets and seals," Aki explained, waving a hand around. "No one here cares who you are or what you do, so long as nothing's damaged. Now, this is a triple S-class secret. No one is to know for as long as possible."

"I know what the ranking means," Tsunade growled, frowning. Her brow twitched in annoyance as she crossed her arms. "And you don't get to order me around."

Aki shrugged, leaning back casually. "Your call. I think you'd want some of my advice in the future, though, Baa-chan." A tick mark appeared on her head, but Aki held a hand up. "You're right. You're not the Baa-chan I knew. You'll never be her for me, but you're already her for _me,"_ he cryptically said.

When she didn't understand ( _who would, when time travel was simply a thing of fiction?_ ) Aki let a henge wash over him, his original body showing through. His hair grew shorter, to the way it was before the war. His eyes returned to their shade of blue- a mix of the sky and sea, different even from Minato's, but too similar to ignore. His frame remained the same, his whisker markings returning. The only thing separating him from his younger self was the haunted look in his eye. He held up a hand at Tsunade's rising confusion, holding it out to her. "I can show you. We developed a way to enter each other's mindscapes without a Yamanaka present when verbal and non-verbal communication became compromised. It was the only way to share information without the enemy gaining it."

After a moment of thinking, she took his hand, opening her eyes to the shore of Uzushio. She gasped as a powerful chakra entered her space, whirling around to see the 9-Tailed Fox.

Except it was lazily laying there, no chains or bars anywhere. Beside her, Aki- who looked like an older Naruto now, the red hair and violet eyes gone- shrugged, walking casually up to the demon. She wanted to warn him, but her voice died on her lips as he leaped up onto the fox's snout, leaning to an eye larger than himself. "We have company," he said, hands on his hips.

A yawn escaped the Fox, an eye blinking open to see Aki. **"That's none of my concern. You can handle this on your own."**

Aki sighed, sliding down back to the ground. He approached Tsunade, hands linked behind his head. "Baa-chan, meet Kurama. Kurama, you know the Fifth Hokage."

 **"She did well in the war. But she isn't here now. This is a** ** _child_** **compared to the Slug Queen I met. Wake me when you're done,"** he said, rolling over onto his side. Aki stuck his tongue out at the fox, easily dodging the tail that almost subconsciously came after him. **"Stop pouting. I'll be there for the hard part."**

After Tsunade got over her shock, Aki started explaining. When she didn't believe his words, he showed her his memories.

His childhood- _all_ of it, both of them watching the little Naruto as if they were in the crowd. His Academy days. His first bonds. His team in their early days. Missions, getting more into detail during the Waves Mission. The botched Chunin Exams. The growing rift between him and his brother. The moment he realized Inu, the ANBU that helped save him most, was his teacher. Meeting Jiraiya. Learning the Rasengan and meeting Tsunade for the first time. Itachi and Kisame attacking him and Sasuke when Jiraiya was out on the town. Gai's entrance. Fighting Kabuto and Orochimaru beside Tsunade. His years with Jiraiya. Coming back. Saving Gaara, only to find he was too late. Watching Elder Chiyo sacrifice herself to save him. Learning a bit about the Akatsuki. Jiraiya's death and final message. Learning Sage Mode. Returning to the Leaf to find it leveled, most of his friends and family already dead. Fighting and saving Nagato and Konan. Watching Hinata nearly die trying to save him and losing control. Seeking B out. Starting on odds with the rapper, but gaining his friendship quickly. Learning to work with Kurama. Meeting his father in his moment of weakness. Trying again, and starting the process of befriending Kurama. Meeting his mother in his other moment of weakness, learning about her and his father. Besting his dark side and vowing to take Kurama's hate. Him escaping the island they had tried keeping him in, trying to keep him out of the war. Him joining. Working with Orochimaru. Discovering the truth. Fighting- _so much fighting._ Losing the war before winning. The war dragging on for over five years, the casualties only rising. Fighting Madara and Obito long after their plan failed, the two Uchiha deciding to kill everything if they couldn't win. The countless Zetsu clones, making everything dangerous.

He showed her his past, the people his team grew up to be. And then he showed what he's done since coming back, leaving out personal moments unrelated to changing the future that was his past. When he was done, they sat on the shore, thinking.

"How... have you moved on alone?"

He sighed, running his hands through his hair. "I don't know," he said honestly, face somber. "A mixture of luck, Kurama, and will if I had to guess. I was too late to save my husband and his family, too late to save Naruto from our childhood. I was too late to save Yuki from losing her mother and too late to save our loved ones. But I won't fail them again- starting with saving the other jinchuriki before the Akatsuki can get their hands on them. I just need the mission for it and permission."

"You have it. Save our world, Naruto. Once again... I'm putting my bet on you."

The man smiled, standing. "Then this marks the end of your losing streak."

They left the mindscape a second later. Poor Shizune looked so confused- as Tsunade never went _anywhere_ without the woman. A nod from Tsunade was all she needed, though. 

Aki left before the BBQ was done. 

.

.

.

The next to find out, unsurprisingly, were the Nara son and father duo. The son before the father. It didn't come as much of a surprise to Aki, who was honestly expecting the confrontation a lot earlier than when it actually came around to happening. 

Of course, not many shinobi would have understood the action as a confrontation. 

It had started innocently enough. The Nara heir vaguely hinted at wanting to ask the older Uzumaki something, preferably during a cloud-watching session or a game of shogi. And Aki, despite the pain of seeing someone so close to him alive again and growing more and more into the person he remembered every day, subtly hinted that he could be found on top of the Fourth's head most late afternoons. 

Aki wasn't surprised when, a couple of hours after he settled, Shikamaru had lazily trudged up the path (one of the few other shinobi to do so) and joined Aki on the stone carving. They sat in silence for a long while, simply watching the clouds (in Shikamaru's case) or watching the village (Aki's case). 

Maybe it was the atmosphere, maybe it was how long he'd been relaxed, maybe it was Shikamaru himself, but Aki was relaxed. His guard was down, and he was living in the moment. Which was probably why he didn't stop to think about his answer when Shikamaru asked, "How long did it last?"

"The war or the people?"

Both froze as Aki's words rang through the silence, but Shikamaru sighed. "It's true, then."

"What's your theory?"

Neither looked at each other as the Nara explained. "You're either a time-traveler or some kind of god. Seeing as I don't believe in gods, you're a time-traveler. That answer proved it."

Aki chuckled, low and under his breath. "What gave me away?"

"Everything. There were too many things that didn't make sense with you- not unless one considered the possibility of time travel." If Aki knew the Nara any less, he'd miss the gleam of pride in his eyes. "But most of all, it was how unphased you were about everything. As though you've already seen everything that's coming and you're just waiting to get to the main event."

Aki blinked but shrugged. "Sounds about right." After a moment, a question came to mind. "How long do you think it'll take your dad to figure it out?"

"He hasn't already?"

Aki shook his head, amusement in his features. "You're the first that didn't need to be told." 

Amusement shadowed Shikamaru's face, fading as his thoughts focused on the truth he now knew. "... Our future wasn't good, was it."

"No, it wasn't." Both paused once more until Aki broke the silence. "Do you know who I was?"

Critical eyes went to Aki. "You're from this time, right?" Aki nodded.

"I'm currently alive and well, if you want a hint," he offered, a smile on his face. 

The Nara thought for a moment, eyes trained on the Uzumaki. Aki could point out the _second_ he pieced it together, eyes widening and shock entering his features. " _Naruto?"_

Aki smirked, all teeth and fox charm. "I go by Aki nowadays, Shika." He could see the pieces click for the Nara, things even time-traveling couldn't explain falling into place. "For some reason, the jump changed a lot of my features," Aki continued, twisting a strand of his bangs between his fingers. "Kurama- that's the 9-tails, by the way- said it was my Uzumaki genes coming out, using the longevity that would have kept me alive for centuries. It was for the best- I didn't want to be found out just by existing, after all."

Shikamaru snorted, shaking his head. "Only you could manage something like this." 

"Guilty as charged."

With a muttered ' _troublesome'_ and a sigh, Shikamaru turned back to his thoughts for a moment- probably trying to word his next question. While the Nara knew any information around Aki and his future was more trouble than it was worth, he was still curious. "What was our relationship?" At Aki's puzzled look, he explained. "You always look so sad when you're around the Konoha 12, but sadder when you look at me, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi."

Aki nodded, turning his eyes back to the village. "That's because you four were the closest to me. Between my return to Konoha and the start of the war, my Shika and I dated. After we finally brought Sasuke back- for good, that time, it was half-way through the war- we got together. A few months later, we welcomed Sakura into our relationship. If we had the time, the three of us would have gotten married after we got Sasuke's Curse Mark off. As for Kakashi-sensei... He and Sasuke were the last left, besides me."

Shikamaru nodded, thankfully not mentioning the dark, sad look on Aki's face. "Naturally, you would have gotten even closer."

Aki nodded. "I would have given my life to keep them all alive... to keep all of _you_ alive. But that wasn't my decision to make, and it wasn't just my life on the line. If I went, no one could have performed the seal."

The Nara nodded again. "... What drove us apart?"

Aki blinked but allowed a sad smile to work its way onto his face. "The war, mostly. We had very differing views on it, on Sasuke, and it tore our relationship apart. That, plus your grief... You were acting more like the avenger Sasuke in your grief, and I couldn't deal with that. I'd already seen someone with my heart lose themselves to that darkness." Aki leaned back, facing the sky. "I always wanted to apologize to you. I know I'll never get the chance to apologize to _him,_ but..."

"Save it for when you need them," Shikamaru grumbled. "... I'd ask more, but that's just troublesome. You probably know what you're doing." He stood, hands in his pockets. "Just continue being that unpredictable shinobi we know you are."

Aki nodded, waving the Nara goodbye and letting his thoughts wander once more.

 _Unpredictable, huh...?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is later than usual, the interaction with shikamaru at the end was being Difficult. it did Not wanna be on paper at all, and depression really hit hard recently
> 
> but!! here we are :) nearly 6,000 words later *sigh*
> 
> (also, dont be sad if im not replying to comments- i read them all over and over because i survive on praise and kind words)
> 
> ok!! so!!! most of the feedback ive got is for shikanaru or gaanaru, which, fair enough!! so i added a lil bit at the end with shikamaru to maybe foreshadow some shipping in the future ;). plus a bit about aki's relationship with shika (from his time, ofc). dont gotta read if ya dont wanna, but i bet you can see it from the top of the author's note
> 
> (no, im not gonna ship yuki with anyone- at least for the moment. shes the same age as konohamaru- and a fucking kid.)
> 
> thanks for checking this out, and ill see yall next chapter ^w^


	15. What Comes Next

First of all, this isn't a chapter. 

Sorry. I just need to get this out, and explain what the heckity-do-da I'm doing. I don't recommend skipping this chapter, however, as a whole bunch of things are changing, and I think y'all should know what's going on. Or what I'm thinking of doing.

 _This_ section of the story is over. As such, I think it's appropriate to start a new work in this series (title pending) going through Shippuden instead of continuing under this one. 

Why? 

Because otherwise, it'd be super-duper, mega-ultra _long_. Shippuden _already_ has so much, and there's so much more to explain with the changes Aki's made. I don't want this to be a 100+ story (even if it's really short compared to most other Naruto fics so far).

Does that mean I'm going to end this portion _completely?_

No. 

I felt I fast-forwarded through most parts of the series. Was this a good idea? I don't know, but it cut down on content and boiled the fic down to the necessities with very few opportunities for the characters to shine together. So what I'm thinking is a new update schedule where I publish some of those cut parts in (again) a different work. This _will_ slow down updates, however, and they're probably gonna be slowed anyway, as I'm at the end of pre-written chapters, and trying to write Shippuden is _hard_.

No, I don't know when the next update for _Changing the Stream of Time_ will be. I haven't finished the next chapter yet, and frankly, it's _very_ low on my priorities list. So get hooked if you dare, it might not update for a Hot Minute. No one has asked that yet (or for updates in general, thank you guys **_so much_** for that), but I felt I should warn you guys in case you decide to/have already checked it out. (Thank you all very much for the feedback and support on that fic, too. It honestly warms my heart and has caused at least 500+ words to be added to the next chapter.)

Does that mean I'm abandoning it? Hell no. 

I love writing, I love Aki's and Akira's characters, and I love playing around with the Naruto universe. So no matter how long it takes for an update, know I'm not abandoning these fics. I won't forget about y'all and what you've said, and that you're waiting for the next chapter.

Now if anyone wants to take Aki as a character and write their own spin on him, I'm down for that. Hell, that'd be hella flattering, and I'd love to read someone else's interpretation of Aki (and his past, his issues and habits, and the fact that he _is_ a war veteran. He has some PTSD that isn't really addressed in this fic, mainly because I don't have any experience with people with PTSD and don't want to do them injustice). Maybe with a more serious note, or with more of his Issues expanded upon and shown, or without a pairing, or in the Warring Clans Era. That'd be hella cool, and if no one does it by the time I wrap these fics up, I'll pro'lly try to write it myself. Heaven knows this stupid red-head has made his home in my head for the past century and a half.

Now, most of this is still up in the air. I _want_ to do most of these things, but I also don't want to delay the next chapters without at the very least telling you guys _why._ I feel that's unfair, and you should at least pick your poison a bit. Let your thoughts be heard. This is a time for a serious conversation over how the story will progress.

I want to hear your thoughts. What you think's gonna happen, why, and how you think that would impact the story. I want to see your conspiracy theories, to see where you think this is going to go. I want to discuss all that with y'all, because planning for so many characters is hard and confusing, and talking through these things is gonna really help keep me focused and targetted. Do I already have an idea of what I want to happen? Kinda. I know what Aki wants to do, but I don't know how his actions will change things quite yet. 

Obviously, all that can't be done in the comments. So, my dear friend helped create a discord server for anyone who wants to join us ^^

I'll put the link in the description, but if you feel bored, feel free to log on some time. 

I hope you all have a wonderful day/night, and that you stick around to see where this story goes ^^

.

.

.

UPDATE!!! THE NEXT PART IS OUT!!! Chapter 1, at least ^^ its in a new work within this collection, should be the next one in the series now ^^. if yall wanna check it out, i mean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://discord.gg/WjYXkQGUhw
> 
> For anyone who wants to join


	16. IMPORTANT

First of all, thank you all **_so so so_** **much** for staying with this story. For showing your support, and for being so enthusiastic. Seeing all of you enjoy this work really warms my heart, and it inspires me every day.

But I **_cannot stay on AO3._**

Some of you may know this- some may not. But AO3 has stated that sexual fics around minor RPFs- **_real person fiction-_** **doesn't **go against community guidelines.

To simplify- **_fics depicting sexual acts, sexual assault, assault, and pedophilia about real minors on the internet are allowed on AO3._** There is no excuse for this- it's not okay.

Hell, I don't think it's okay to write about _real people in general_ , such as but not limited to YouTubers, voice actors, actors, and authors at all. But the fact that this is happening to _minors_ is disgusting. It's unforgivable, and until AO3 changes their guidelines over this, I'm afraid I cannot continue to use this website in good conscience. 

Am I abandoning this site? **_Yes._**

Am I abandoning this _fic? **No.**_

There are other sites to write on- such as Wattpad, ff.net, QUOTEV, and TONFA (for Naruto fanfics, specifically). I will be transferring all of my works to ff.net for the moment, give it a try as it's the only other one I feel comfortable using besides Wattpad at the moment. I _will_ be publishing my fics on Wattpad as well, as I use it to store my drafts, and in case some of you are more comfortable using that instead of ff.net. 

**_Transferring will most likely start in early March, 2021._** That gives me some time to edit my works before posting them again, include _more_ of what I skipped over when I first started writing this story in 2018. (Yes, it's an old WIP of mine.) 

Once the works are published, I'll include the links to them in the notes, if you wish to check them out or continue with the story. 

_Will I ever come back to writing on AO3?_ **Maybe. It depends entirely on how they handle RPFs and pedophilia in the future.**

But, until that time does or does not come, **I will be putting this work up for adoption after posting what I have on other sites.**

I do not want to strip away a source of entertainment or serotonin from the people on this site, because I know that sometimes it's just _one thing_ that helps you through the day. _One thing_ that keeps you going, that brightens up your day. And I know that, sometimes, all we have is that one thing. So **I'll keep these posted. They won't be updated on this site anymore, but I won't take them down.**

All I ask is that, when it's elsewhere, you interact with the fic on other sites instead of this one. I'll continue reading the comments, continue keeping track of how it's doing, but I won't be responding unless it's a question relating to this issue, or a discussion. 

Now I think that's everything right now, so I hope you all have a good day/night and take care of yourselves as best you can.


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